I’ve read a lot of Jennifer Lawrence’s interviews over the years, and let me tell you something: she’s not dumb. Not at all. She’s very sharp, very witty and self-aware. But she is also uneducated, which explains some of her idiosyncrasies, you know? She wasn’t forged in a Disney lab. She didn’t grow up in a studio-education system, nor did she seem to even concern herself with having any kind of fallback. I don’t even think she was ever really a “struggling actress” – she worked consistently even before she really broke out at a young age. But during that entire time, she had a secret: she didn’t even finish middle school, and she’s never even bothered to get her GED. Some quotes from her 60 Minutes interview:
Middle-school dropout: “I dropped out of middle school. I don’t technically have a GED or a diploma. I am self-educated.”
Whether she regrets dropping out of school: “No. I really don’t. I wanted to forge my own path. I found what I wanted to do, and I didn’t want anything getting in the way of it. Even friends, for many years, were not as important to me as my career. I mean, from the age of 14.”
School wasn’t easy for her: “I struggled through school. I never felt very smart. And when I’m reading the script and I feel like I know exactly what it would look like if somebody felt that way, that was the whole part of my brain that I didn’t even know existed—something that I could be confident in and I didn’t want to let it go. It was just an overwhelming feeling of ‘I get this. This is what I was meant to do.’ And to get people to try to understand that, when you’re 14 years old wanting to drop out of school and do this, and your parents are just like ‘You’re out of your mind.'”
I don’t want to put words in her mouth or make some kind of dumb armchair-diagnosis, but I suspect that she didn’t feel “dumb” as much as she felt bored in school. She’s quick and, I suspect, borderline ADHD. The kind of structured, traditional school environment probably felt suffocating to her but she didn’t know how to verbalize that feeling.
Now, all that being said, stay in school, kids! Yes, Jennifer Lawrence doesn’t even have a GED and she’s an Oscar-winning actress making tens of millions of dollars a year, but for every J-Law story, there are like 20,000 stories of school dropouts who can’t even get a job at McDonald’s.
Jennifer Lawrence says she dropped out of middle school. The Oscar-winning actress tells Bill Whitaker she didn't want anything getting in the way of her career. Sunday on 60 Minutes.https://t.co/BgAj4TcRiV pic.twitter.com/MjzH5Bgu8d
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) February 23, 2018
Photos courtesy of WENN.
At a time when women and girls right to education is threatened around the world, and education is so vitally important for employment, I really wish she had mentioned the importance of getting an education, and how it can change lives. I’m disappointed in her, but as ever, not surprised.
Maybe she did and they edited out. She’s only sharing her story. It seems if a female talks about themselves in an interview these days they have to include every possible scenario or follow ebery possible thread of a subject to cover every base.
What’s your point? I cant comment when someone says something I disagree with or I wish was phrased differently?
Maybe she should “self-educate” her way to not saying so much dumb sh-t.
Because dropping out of middle school, in a country where access to education is linked to the ability to climb out of poverty, totally isn’t a big deal.
I do think she should have thrown in something to make it clear that she wasn’t encouraging kids to drop out of school. But Rocknrust, I sort of agree with you.
She literally just said she didn’t want it getting in the way of her career. Jennifer Lawrence, one of the biggest stars in the world, said that getting an education would have gotten in the way of her success. That is how we are raising a generation of You Tube stars and Kardashians.
I don’t think she mentioned it because she said she doesn’t regret her decision.
@Bridget
Exactly.
In my view, it shows when she speaks, and I am strongly opposed to this way of thinking. Self-education is an addendum.
In my opinion, it only sounds impressive when someone extremely accomplished using their intelligence says it. Or someone who pulled themselves out of poverty to achieve great things.
Not as a choice. She could have become educated if she wanted to do it. She is framing as an either/or choice.
But she is a public figure and such – she has a a responsibility to her fans to use her platform thoughtfully and with great care. I agree that it’s her story but she comes from priviledge and no doubt has had tutors and other help that she doesn’t mention so I could see how it may come across as very misleading that she became so successful without a GED…for most of us unfortunately school is a part of the larger system that we exist in that requires us to have a diploma in order to be emoyed.
Yes! Rocknrust.
Your comment is so valid. There is too much expectation for people to cover every base, call out every wrong, mention every regret and so on and so on. This was a very interesting and even perhaps brave comment. Sometimes she is a bit silly, but not here. She’s explaining why she thought she had something and wanted to pursue it. Good for her. Looks like it worked out.(!)
I just don’t like how she’s called education “getting in the way.” This whole stop everything and pursue your dreams mentality is so dangerous. I saw some other article where someone stated “If you have a ‘Plan B,’ then you’re not fully committed to ‘Plan A.’”
This is gonna sound bad, but bear with me, it’s just a thought…
Back in the day when American Idol was still on, I used to watch the auditions in awe, especially for the people that came in with little or any talent, claiming they left school/work to follow their dreams and go to an audition, and then they didn’t make it, and they’d lose it, and it always made me draw the “conclusion” that this is what makes America so great and so sad, in a way. People live in the first world, where you can get discovered in the supermarket, and live on to make millions of dollars, however, when that “reality” is not happening for the average joe it seems to literally destroy them. Some of their reactions were really sad and scary to me.
I remember thinking wow, living in a place where literally anything is possible, is somewhat stripping away that sense that we can exist and move on if we don’t make it at first try. Or that sense of responsibility to yes go after your dreams but have a safety net, keep that job until you get the next one.
This is what i think about when I hear about stories of people dropping out of school to pursue a dream. Even when I was dreaming of being a fashion designer, I never wanted to ditch my education. And now at 32 i cannot imagine what my life would be like if i hadn’t finished high school at least. Or went to college. It is so important for us.
Studying is important! Never leave school people. Get educated.
Jennifer here makes me really really sad.
@Hh:
If Jlaw wasn’t successful like the millions of aspiring or failed or has-been ‘entertainers’ out there (educated or not), I wonder what she would be thinking now. It’s easy to say when you have the career you ditched education for. She doesn’t have the bad luck of pondering about that alternative reality.
@Mimz:
People are delusional about the ‘American Dream’, AI shows that you need a dumb luck delusional attitude to make it in that business. Talent is optional. So is intelligence and to an even lesser degree morals.
Jlaw’s quote resonates to so many people out there who are trying to make it and think education is just a waste of time that holds them back instead of something valuable (if not for the knowledge then for socialization and growing up into adulthood without the world watching you go through finding yourself etc).
I would say that it also resonates with people who want to hear “follow your dreams” more than “put in the work”.
Finished two high schools and two colleges. And she is telling the world that education is not important basically. It is insulting. It is giving younger generations very bad advice. Cos she got lucky. And if she had any brains she’d finish at least hs now.
I can not understand how can someone be so ignorant towards education yet talk about serious subjects. Education, knowledge, that’s power. We are always learning, until we die. And no amount of oscars or diors will change that.
She’s only 27. She should really take a look at her life and decide who she wants to be cos this persona is annoying and she’s progressively getting dumber.
This a symptom of what is wrong with our culture. Whatever happened to being well rounded?
This is irresponsible.
You don’t say that without clarifying that you are a special case. Professionally she is successful but is she happy and is she fulfilled?
Always the cool girl. Forever the exception.
A profile I read of her mother may explain a lot. She sounds driven and tough as nails, while at the same time permissive and indulging of a child’s dreams.
She portrays Jennifer’s rise as an “accident” and it may well be to some extent, but she didn’t miss a beat in pushing it through.
Agreed with @ceire.
ITA, and it’s so annoying when she spouts nonsense. School dropout doesn’t means she shouldn’t be up to date with current affairs. Some of her statements are dumb.
I don’t think they would edit that out. It would have made a great headline. I dropped out; but even with all my opportunity; I wish I hadn’t. something like that. I think it is clearer to me that some of the stuff she says is that of a 14 year old. She is still in some ways stuck in that time in her life.
I completely agree. I’m sure she feels defensive of her choices which i understand but her story is literally the millionth exception not the rule. In general girls have to be smarter, more educated and work harder to make it to the same place as a man. Plus education is so important for everyone and it’s important to learn all subjects to some degree not just what you’re interested in if you’re “self educated.”
I mean, she should feel defensive. She chose not to even finish Middle School. She wants to be taken seriously but doesn’t even have a basic cursory education.
I read that to mean that she was educated independently, out of the school system, not that she wasn’t educated at all. Is it even legal to drop out of school at 14? My kids have been in stage productions and they have to get a govt form signed by their school and they have to have “studio teachers” at the theater with them.
As others have noted, she lied for years about getting a GED – so it’s not a question of alternative schooling, and if they provided the GED it’s possible that she wouldn’t have needed to do that on-set schoolwork (she didn’t get a steady gig til age 16 or so… hence the convenient finished 2 years early).
weren’t they required to provide her with a tutor on set, at least until she graduated or got a GED?
Only if her parents were involved and pushed it. Which begs the question where were her parents?
No wonder she comes off immature and articulates the way she does. Her desire to be cool with the bad guys is like a 14 year old. S
How in hell does a 14 year old “choose” to drop out of school? It’s against the law in every state in the union. Where were her parents, and why didn’t they make her continue her education until she was legally old enough to quit?
It never fails to amaze me how many uneducated (and…incredibly average in terms of intelligence) people there are in Hollywood – talent and crew. It’s such that it’s much easier to list the people who do have a brain:
1) David Duchovny (whom I love): undergrad at Princeton, Master in English at Yale and ABD at Yale in English lit (I think his dissertation is about magic and literature or something.)
2) Brooke Shields – Princeton
3) Natalie Portman – Harvard College
4) Conan – Harvard
5) Ed Norton – Yale
6) Emma Watson – Yale
7) Hugh Grant – Oxford
8) Jodie Foster – Yale
9) John Krazinski – Brown
10) Lisa Kudrow – Vassar
There are many others, but a lot are in journalism or are older actors, who had more of an impetus to go to college. Here’s a list:
http://www.rasmussen.edu/student-life/blogs/main/100-celebrities-with-college-degrees/
But my point is that when I was working in movies it was plainly obvious the people who had gone to school and those that hadn’t. The uneducated people (and former child actors) tended to be the most difficult people. This is why I take everything actors have to say about pretty much ANYTHING with a grain of salt. I don’t really give a shit about their views about politics or current events or whatever else they run their mouths off about. Part of the reason I got out of film was because I figured if I was going to be treated like shit, condescended to, and ordered around, it might as well be by people like physicians (who are smart and well educated) than dipshit actors (and producers. and directors.)
God I love Conan. I had no idea he was so well educated and a Harvard man no less. It doesn’t surprise me at all though. Thanks for posting.
This is why I’m not buying her excuse of “not wanting anything to get in the way”. It clearly didn’t for those listed up top. Some probably worked during the summer then went to school during the year or work their film schedule around their courses. Frankly, someone should investigate what projects she was working on because there should have been an on set tutor. Even with independent study she still would have earned a certificate of completion or something. A whole mess of adults failed her somewhere.
Emma Watson went to Brown, actually.
Not having a degree doesn’t mean one lacks a brain. Some of these comments are coming across as very elitist. While I agree that education is important (I have a master’s degree and have been a teacher), I find the idea that one is stupid if they don’t have much education offensive. If you’re of a certain age –say 35 and up — there’s a good chance that your grandparents or great-grandparents didn’t have a formal education. Up until fairly recently in the Western world, many people didn’t have much more than an elementary school education. Does that mean our ancestors were stupid, that they had no wisdom, no common sense, learned no life lessons? This framing that all Jen Lawrence’s faults can be blamed on her lack of schooling is an insult to the many people deprived of formal education who comport themselves with dignity. Moreover, when I think about the people who lived hundreds or thousands of years ago, I am always in awe of them for surviving. They did not have formal education but could devise complex agricultural systems, predict eclipses, build amazing architecture, use plants as medicine, cultivate an oral tradition, and so much more.
@Elysium1973 – I agree 100%
I work with actors and bloody hell, some of them are dumb. There’s a complete lack of reading comprehension for one. It’s very frustrating when I’m working on a script with a client and pick things out in 5 minutes about the character that they didn’t spot with 2 days of prep.
She is irresponsible and also self-absorbed. Most people would have corrected themselves with that statement and made a side note at least to stay in school. But she is more concerned with appearing cool and laidback and chill. I don’t think it even occurred to her. I’m really tired of seeing young people chase this industry without any kind of back up, and usually from low income backgrounds. I often say if they can do anything else that they’re good at, then do that instead. Behind the “glamour” is a lifetime of rejection, unemployment and poor mental health.
I really don’t think it’s about college degree. I’m from a country where EVERYONE goes to college and I’ve met so, so many people with degrees who were simply idiots.
Angelina Jolie is a high school drop-out I believe. But that woman is smart, wise, and she can actually call herself self-educated. She chose an area that she was interested in and actually got to work to become knowledgeable about it.
What, exactly, is JLaw self-educated in? Fart jokes? The history of Kardashians? Yeah, she’s quick-witted but she lacks depth or insight. Her choice to show off her body at the expense of being comfortable (or looking sane) got slammed by thousands of women tired of being expected to put their looks above all else since the dawn of time and instead of educating herself on the issue and asking herself where her choice came from, she decided to go on a rant how it’s “sexist” to criticize her. This is the extent to which she understands feminism: not questioning or criticizing anything women do #girlpower. I’ve met teenage girls with a firmer grasp of feminism, and the double standards women face in today’s world. And no, this isn’t about me being a prude, the dress would’ve looked great in the summer.
She has months off at a time and I don’t think she has one hobby that would be actually mentally stimulating or socially relevant. It’s just getting drunk and watching trash tv. Or she’s too cool to talk about it as it would ruin her Cool Girl persona which, again… lacks depth.
I don’t know. She’s telling her story, one that we don’t fully know. She’s not responsible for anyone else. Also, we only have excerpts here.
Yes and +1 to ROCKNRUST too. At 14 I was so single-minded and not from a place of everyone deserves to get famous or entitlement. I love people’s stories, famous, not and from all backgrounds. How they tell it is a part of it too. How it gets edited is about the interviewer. Each piece is fascinating to me, there are exceptions to who I read/watch, of course. Anyway, I really like Jennifer Lawrence.
Yeah, I agree. I’m not saying she should have lied and said she regretted dropping out if she really didn’t, but at least say something responsible about it. She’s making it sound ‘cool’ which is very very wrong.
agreed. she is not very intelligent in my opinion. to brag about dropping out of middle school when the reality of that life for millions of people would not lead to her success, is ignorant as hell. not going to college is one thing but quitting middle school? for hollywood? in no world would that make sense to me or would i respect parents who support that. its disgusting
It’s concerning, really it is. She’s a role model who’s saying that education is overrated and that self-education is fine. As a teacher, this hurts! I can’t tell you how many middle schoolers are *sure* they’re the next J-Law, star athlete, or Grammy-winning rapper. Ugh!
Agree 100% with you CeeCee
Is one still in middle school at 14? I remember being a freshman in high school at that age.
What’s actually really funny is that Jennifer and her team made up a whole story around this. It involved her homeschooling and graduating from high school two years early with a 3.9 GPA. I get why she and her parents wanted to lie, but boy they really took it to another level. Lol.
http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/03/30-things-you-didnt-know-about-jennifer-lawrence/jennifer-lawrence-trivia-30
https://www.glamour.com/story/jennifer-lawrence-fresh-air
It appears they lied and it’s not just because letting your child drop out of all education at age 14 is pretty gross; as I recall the law in California and NY her working without being properly tutored/homeschooled (or at least going through the motions!) or without a high school equivalency is illegal.
Absolutely disgusting of them to do and really a poor choice by her to reveal it. She got VERY lucky. 99% of girls in that position would be destroyed by the same choice.
Exactly. Her message should be I was extremely lucky everyone should finish school not an education got in the way of my dreams. Ridiculous.
It makes me think that she was held back. Which would actually explain a lot.
You’re right. What else she lied about?
Oh the irony of you using an incomplete sentence Commenting on a story about education. You can discuss “lies” elsewhere.
If she “struggled through school” and “never felt very smart,” I think it’s possible she might have had some kind of a learning disability. There are all kinds. My niece has an audio-processing disorder. She has to tape all of her classes.
@Jayna: that’s what I was alluding to, and what was mentioned in the article above. I feel like we’re missing a lot. For one thing, what parents just let their 14 year old quit school?
@Bridget
I don’t know about that. But I think her parents were indulgent and ambitious. They didn’t properly homeschool her so she couldn’t take the GED.
There is a story in there somewhere or else she wouldn’t have admitted this. Perhaps she is reevaluating her life. She looks sort of sad lately. Sooner or later once someone with a clue hits a wall. Fame and money only satisfy one category, and the rest are empty.
It depends on your birthday and the state you live in. Some states require that a child be a specific age by the first day of school. So if the cutoff is September 1 and your birthday is October 1, then you will be one of the older kids in your class and finish middle school at 14.
Just looked it up. She’s August, which should actually be one of the youngest people in her class.
I am an August birthday and turned 14 on the first day of 8th grade. I wasn’t held back. In my state, students who have birthdays in the summer are given a choice of when they want to start school. 30 years ago (when I was starting school and before 4K was invented) the prevailing wisdom was that it was better to have your kids the oldest in the class because they are more mature and more able to handle the structure of school. Younger kids often struggled to conform to the strict discipline of school.
In my class, I had 5 students older than me with summer birthdays (4 of whom–including me–who graduated in the top 10% of our graduating class) and a handful that were almost a full year younger than me. Summer birthdays are tricky. My nephew is born in late July and my sister is considering doing exactly what my parents did: make him the oldest kid in the class.
I went to school with people who had birthdays in August and they were the oldest. July babies were usually the youngest.
I also knew someone that didn’t turn 18 until the August after graduation, so it may be up to the parents and when they want to start their kids in school.
Hmm, interesting. I turned 14 in 9th grade (November). Maybe she was held back. It doesn’t really matter, each kid is different. It is surprising that her family kept up the story of her completing a GED, though.
Yes. My about to turn 14 year old is an 8th grader. Half of his friends have turned 14 already. He will be 14 when he starts high school, and turn 15 mid way through freshman year. So, no, not held back.
Same, my son is a November birthday. He was 14 1/2 the following spring when he graduated from 8th grade,
My son was born in October. He started first grade at five years 11 months. He was one of the youngest in his class. He started college at 17 years 10 months.
Omg HH, I remember that!!!!! Wow.
Oh yeah, I remember the 3.9 GPA! In another interview, I think she even said she might have wanted to become a doctor if she wasn’t an actor.
Yeah, it is a big one. Geesh.
HAHAHAHA there we go. Reminds me of family guy ‘phoneyyyyyyyyy’
Right?! I remember all the commenters defending her saying “she’s no idiot” because for YEARS she peddled this lie about her high GPA and finishing early.
Also lets be real the ability to get by without a GED is not something any POC could do without thinking of the consequences. It speaks to PEAK privilege
I recall we both decided to take a break from her films. lol
This is why PR can be such a raging lie, and it can lock someone in a narrative when they no longer want to push it.
In California, the kids I know who are home schooled were either bullied or they don’t fit into conventional schooling due to learning differences ( which includes extraordinarily gifted kids). if they work in movies they can go to school as the schools are flexible. If they work on a tv series they get tutored on set. No reason for her to drop out of school. Period. I call BS on the whole it would hurt my career. Her parents suck.
THIS!! ! ^^^
I don’t think she’s stupid either but I find that so disheartening. Same with Anya Taylor Joy. Great for you if you feel like you can conquer the world like this, but ffs, have something to fall back on.
I feel like her parents should be getting the flack for this one rather than Jennifer herself – she was a child at the time.
Yes, school is tough and horrible and a lot of 14 year olds want to leave but that doesn’t mean you should just let them – at least not with no proper alternative educational path.
Yes. Her parents should have facilitated her getting a diploma, no matter what else was going on with her career. She was only 14 FFS.
I agree- they should’ve insisted she get some on set tutoring while working to, at the very least, get a GED. Anything less is short changing her. She may not technically need it for her career, but education is so important to the development of a person, especially child, and can open doors to new interests as well.
As a teacher and a parent, this is where I am. Shame on her parents.
I thought she had said in past interviews that she graduated two years early?
That being said, she’s *really* lucky to be where she is now. I hope no one gets the wrong impression that education isn’t important because JLaw managed to get by.
Why are we pretending that graduating high school is a strong metric of anything it’s not. I’ve seen how easily kids graduate frankly when I graduated I was such a mess
And this is why I consistently ask why we should ever look to Hollywood for leadership and opinions about global and social issues. Dropped out of middle school? Yikes.
Bridget…I agree. I never look to Hollywood for leadership & opinions on much of anything. Celebrity worship has never sat well with me. They are ‘entertainers’. That is all.
Hollywood and actors sell illusions. But Hollywood is also a big opinion forming machine, trying to manipulate and lull people. How many movies exist in which the POTUS is in danger of getting killed, as if he is the most important person? In the movieworld you get saved by somebody like Bruce Willis. In real life the deputy sheriff hides outside the school. How many young men joined the air force after they saw Top Gun? Interesting was, that the army had recruitment offices in the entry hall of the theaters, which showed the movie. 😀
This is all connected. Why was Trump elected? The people think they know him, because they saw him on TV, he can be trusted. Trump is an illusion and he is selling illusions.
The USA is a good example for what happens when show business takes over.
SAME! I have never looked to Hollywood for examples of my life, aside from what hair cut to try out! I never obsessed over any famous people. I had friends who knew every fact on their celeb crush. I had a blink 182 wall calendar and a no doubt poster in 7/8th grade. Couldn’t tell you any of their last names, birthdays, favorite food, or hometowns?! Besides Gwen Stefani only because she’s very popular now. I wonder why some people obsess and others, like myself, never do?!
Bridget, I totally agree! We are bringing up a generation of kids, that look to the movies, TV, and music, as their only role models! My 15 year old niece and all her friends want to be pop stars, or models, etc., despite the fact, that most lack any kind of talent. And, their parents (I’m sure, thinking they are doing the right thing, encourage this). How many young people actually make it in any of these professions? Hardly any! I would not want to discourage my child in their pursuits, but why not try and steer them in a different direction. Medicine, science, etc.
Agree with the above.
DO NOT ENCOURAGE these kinds of dreams. Especially modeling. You have no control because it is purely genetics and being photogenic and having a look the industry loves. Modeling contest shows should serve as a warning, not encouragement. How many winners go on to be successful? I can’t think of one though they are tall and thin. They believe that is all it takes. Wrong on many levels. You can’t manufacture charisma, and you need it to be an entertainer or model. A majority of actors who make it are connected or lucky. Follow your dreams with pragmatism and realism.
It does not mean forgo education, and it does not mean holding up exceptions as a rule. If someone wants to be an actor go to Yale or Julliard or NYU or something and still get an education.
Look at her response to dressgate.
Exhibit A as to why education is important.
I’m calling her dumb just to be clear.
When I saw this article it explains so much about her. She has no concept of history and that’s why she does so many dumb things about feminism. It’s because she knows nothing about it other than how things affect her. She also plays frat girl to make up for her insecurity about not finishing high school. Despite what she says it obviously bothers her because she had a story made up to lie about it. Many people later in life regret not completing high school because it is something that most people have completed. She isn’t 30 yet and she still looks young, but at some point she will not be the cool girl because another ingenue will be there. And then she will have to either know more of the business in order to survive. It was very short sighted for her parents to not make her take the GED because a woman’s career as an actress is never a sure thing especially once over 30.
This! It also explains why she thought scratching her butt on a sacred stone in Hawaii was a funny story to tell. She may be sharp, but she’s ignorant. That’s what an education is designed to get rid of.
Sorry but dressgate was something she happened to be absolutely right about- especially considering the grossly misogynistic responses to her speaking her truth. There was nothing factually wrong in her statement. The problem is that even within the feminist movement, it’s only acceptable for certain kinds of women to be assertive about their beliefs, wants, and boundaries when it comes to their bodies.
The ones who are closest to the ‘Good Girl’ ideal always get a voice. Anyone who would dare try to make her question her perception of reality, silence her, call her names, revoke her feminist card, or try to play the “But your choice doesn’t exist in a vacuum! How can you even know what you do or don’t want to do with your body Because Patriarchy, So just shut up & do as I say!” game with her in order to manipulate her into compromising gets called out for it. Same with the women who want to reject things that are considered feminine. But it’s always okay to treat women like that if they don’t choose modesty. Those are the women who get lambasted both for standing up when they’re not okay with something and for defending choices that the ‘Good Girl’ would not have made. We act as if there are only 2 or 3 things an immodest woman can be: a victim who was forced or coerced into doing something ‘slutty’, a traitorous man-pleaser who can’t sit with us, or some combination of both.
Dressgate. She said it’s feminist to wear what you want.
Instead of looking at how dumb she looked freezing in the cold next to fully dressed men.
She is dumb plain and simple.
Except it was NOT as simple as “I liked my pretty dress, tee hee”. Lawrence is pretending that what she wears for a press tour like Red Sparrow is not a part of a well thought out strategy. As Lainey likes to say, fashion is power. Jennifer Lawrence, who got paid millions of dollars, should know better than anyone that fashion is power. She was trying to craft a specific image with what she wears for this press tour in order to sell her product.
@Barrymore – no she did not. she said people lambasting her for wearing what she wanted to wear and assuming she had no agency off the bat was not feminist.
people took that and ran with it because it did not fit their narrative.
kaiser(?) posed the question that: although it may have been her choice, was it a feminist choice?
again, people interpreted it as Jen said her choice was feminist. she did not, it was kaiser posing an interesting question for debate that everyone missed.
reading is fundamental, even for us educated folks.
*who gets paid millions of dollars to wear Dior
@Barrymore: She never said that wearing that dress (or anything else) was feminism. Those are words people were putting in her mouth because they were pissed about her standing up for herself instead of silently, passively accepting the narrative that was being projected onto her (along with some of the more aggressive commentary).
@Bridget: It could be both though. She could have thought that dress was fabulous AND because it goes along with the image she’s working with and the movie she’s promoting. None of that makes her arguments invalid.
Otaku Fairy: Preach!
Yes to Otaku Fairy. She RESPONDED to a ridiculous attack.
I can’t sympathize with her since just a couple of days earlier she said she wanted to butter up Timothée Chalamet “like a pig for slaughter” and swoop in on him because she thinks he’s hot. So in her mind it’s okay if she does it to other people. No it’s not. What she said about him was disgusting. Imagine the sexes reversed and tell me how that’d go over in this environment.
@Otaku Fairy
The response was never about her lack of modesty. I’m a feminist and I defended her VERY low cut dress she wore like 2 days before (pics were on this site). This was about her lack of common sense and desperation to look sexy above all else.
Dressgate would have NEVER happened had she worn this dress in July and you know this, which completely destroys your argument.
@Mmg: YOUR argument is completely destroyed by the fact that the conversation wasn’t ONLY about her being cold because of the weather. People were painting her as a victim, implying that she was under some sort of feminist obligation to coordinate her wardrobe choices with the men around her in public, calling her names, using #Metoo as a reason to tell her to cover up, and tweeting her about why they were oh-so-disappointed in her for dressing like that. Then when she firmly but reasonably stood up for herself and pointed out that a lot of the reactions were not feminist, people doubled-down on the victim narrative, tried to silence her, and really went in on the slut-shaming.
She is the one out of countless actors who really hit it big. Where would she be if that hadnt worked?
All those success stories make me roll my eyes. The survivor bias of pointing at Bill Gates and saying “he dropped out of college”. First of all we know it worked out for him and not for most others who did it. Second of all he was already super succesful and it was a new field, he could learn more with his own company than his professors could teach him. Fundamentally different from the typical drop out.
Bill Gates had computer coding skills and engineering skills to help create the personal computer. He also knew how to latch on those who had stronger skills than him too. But he still finished high school. That’s pretty basic.
Jennifer Lawrence managed to score a few roles while she is a young woman and an Oscar. But is she really regarded as a high level thespian? Could she pull off a serious play or Shakespeare? Because she will need to do more than plucky woman or sarcastic plucky woman once the hot cool girls aren’t being offered anymore. Does she produce anything herself? Brie Larson has directed a film and is getting involved in more than just the acting part. Let’s look at Julia Roberts and Meryl Streep and see how their careers played out. Even they had years that were dry.
Bill Gates also came from a wealthy, successful family so he’s always had a safety net no matter what.
For those of us not so priviledged, education is a step up.
There is nothing I admire about Jennifer. She is very lucky to be so successful. There are so many people who are/were tremendously talented and hard working but never were “successful” in terms of fame and money.
@Indiana J
You made me realize that I don’t either. Perhaps that is why I am not interested in her films anymore. She is a lot of hype, but she is not a transcendent actress. I have never been blown away, and I have never seen her stretch, and I have not been touched by her performances after Winter’s Bone.
I will add that college is a different story due to its cost. Having a Bachelor’s degree surely is an advantage, however, I am fully in support of a gap year (or years) if someone wants to find out what field they actually wish to pursue and/or get themselves mentally and financially ready for college. I know people that have degrees, but it took them extra time/money while they were figuring it out. I also know people that have student loans with no degree because they weren’t mentally and emotionally prepared for college.
ETA: Also, major yes to your overall point. People need not only get the full picture of dropout statistics, but also assess where they fit in. Not everyone has Bill Gates potential.
My parents believe in a gap year too, and it is a good productive break after so much time spent in a classroom.
I imagine NY and LA are full of young women who abandoned education to pursue modeling/acting dreams. Let’s do a survey of how that worked out for everyone besides JLaw.
Yeah and he DROPPED OUT OF COLLEGE; not grade school. And he was SMART. He didn’t need to continue. But he finished HIGH SCHOOL. Just a bit different.
Some of these people need to see the difference.
Both he and Mark Zuckerberg were also able to draw on their network of contacts at Harvard. To some extent, starting college helped them out.
Her parents are loaded though and paid for her to be able to do what she wanted to do. Leaving out that info seems to bother me more than her dropping out just because your not giving a clear picture. It’s not like she was out there struggling you know.
I thought her mom was a nurse. That’s hardly loaded.
Edited: she managed a summer camp. Still hardly seems wealthy.
Loaded or not, makes a huge difference if your family is supporting you emotionally and financially, if you’re not risking sleeping on the streets.
The point is that she doesn’t have to worry about school when she has a security blanket from her parents and im pretty sure her dad owns a construction business.
Her parents each own a business. It is privilege to be able to drop out of school and not be seen as less than. and to afford the “struggle” with a ton of help.
Essentially her entire story is a lie
@Nicole
Yes, it is. Remember how they tried to mask Swifty’s privilege and origins?
“Not every little girl gets to do what they want; the world can’t support that many ballerinas.” God, i miss Mad Men.
OMG I miss that show so much.
I can picture Juliette Binoche delivering that line in a haze of cigarette smoke, IIRC.
Wow. What a disservice to herself and a shame on her parents. Ita hard to self-educate and still get a well-rounded education and learn what you may not want to learn at first. The perspective you get from a good education would also help her acting, I would think. Bummer. Also, I doubt she’s reading Voltaire in her spare time.
Yeah, huge shame on her parents. No excuse for her not getting a diploma or GED. If a tutor wasn’t an option, there are plenty of online programs.
I feel like homeschooling is kind of a joke of an education. Maybe because in my country I’ve never heard of anyone doing it.
There are many people doing homeschooling. Some do it well; others do it terribly. It depends. I have friends that homeschool and they do it through a network thing. So their kids can socialize. Other just do it because of varying reasons. And they don’t know how to actually do it in a way that benefits their children.
It was once illegal here and should be again. It is a cover for child abuse in many cases, as you can see explained in many online forums of survivors.
Whenever I hear about homeschooling, I think of people like the Duggars, or that couple with13 kids in California—chained to the furniture, or that woman who drowned her children in the bathtub.
And because I went to public school, it just seems too snotty—my kids are too good to mix with yours.
I know, I know, gross generalizations.
Homeschooling *can* be a cover for child abuse. But so can anything. As we’ve seen, the most trusted organizations, from the Catholic Church to charities like OxFam have had horrific abuse scandals. So should we outlaw charity and religion? Or understand that this evil is but an outlier?
(I won’t even state the obvious, that, sadly, people who *don’t* homeschool may also abuse their children.)
Homeschooling is a growing option for Many. African Americans whose kids are experiencing abuse at the hands of the education system- through long term micro aggressions or out right physical abuse, denial of history etc. Abuse isn’t something that only parents perpetrate. Systems (education/police) can be abusers too.
I used to teach home school groups. Let me tell you…it has really affected how I feel about home schooling. The kids were always way behind in their writing skills, likely cause they never had to endure note taking as busy work. Their math was also generally behind and science…woooo boy. Some times the parents would stick around and interfere with my teaching. One such dad was horrible…rudely talking over me at random….later I asked his child a question and she gave the right answer and her dad who was insufferable was beaming, then I said “but why is that the right answer?” And the kid said “I don’t know; cause that’s what my dad said?!” Hahaha I’ve never felt so smug….lol
Also that’s the normal kids….I won’t even touch on the leagues of homeschoolers that are there cause their parents want no outside non_religious “influence”
I would say 5% of the time home schooling is justified/good for the kid. 95% of the time it’s not a good a thing
How do you drop out of middle school? Isn’t that illegal?
This does kind of make sense, considering some of the things she says. At least she’s rich, she can get a private tutor or something.
Sounds like her parents pulled her out of school to homeschool her (or have tutors) and never did.
Maybe she finished 8th grade but never started high school. Can’t drop out of high school if you never started, so technically she dropped out of middle school. Also, some middle schools are 6th through 9th grade, with high school starting at 10th. It’s possible at 14 she was in 9th grade/middle school.
I was 14, 9th grade, middle school.
I feel badly that her parents allowed that to happen. This isn’t exactly on Jen, this is her parents responsibility.
Middle school is unconscionable, i don’t know how that legal? Here you MUST take your education until 16, there is no option unless you do your GED through other methods.
I hope she’s fudging and left after at least some high school.
School doesn’t make you smart, it just gives you the tools to describe what’s going on around you, and the frameworks to see patterns that can impact you. Jen needs those tools and frameworks, so she can understand where her personal choices fit in greater context.
It also explains how she got caught up with such an educated and sophisticated twat like Aronofsky,
It really does. Aronofsky is really not as wonderful as he thinks he is but a girl who didn’t finish high school could easily be fooled because she is intimidated by his persona.
This also makes me judge him even harder.
makes me judge them both even harder. and i agree about her parents. it is totally illegal. I’m surprised they never got caught by authorities for truancy or child protective services
I can’t get on board with that narrative. She was not fooled about Darren Aronofsky. He is arrogant, but he isn’t a mind controller. He had something she wanted. She likes to attach herself to directors and their movie bombed so they broke up.
She is a grown woman who has navigated Hollywood and you don’t go through that and remain a naive little lamb. The girl is tough as nails and no victim. Her lack of education at this point is her choice.
@Spot on, Magnolia Rose. She’s 27 years old, not some cloistered, naive child. She’s a grown woman. She got out of that relationship what she wanted and then moved on.
She made the choice, but it was a bad one, and I’m explaining how now the allure makes sense.
Before I just thought he looked like a nerdy potato and couldn’t figure it out.
yup, when i read this about her all i thought was: that explains a lot of her “student” persona when she is on the job. she is there absorbing, learning, taking everything in and being a damn good student at it. that translates to a wonderful actress to work with, a director’s dream. and in turn, she is in awe of what they can make her do. i totally get why she gushes over these people, even when they are not the best personas. she can’t see that, she is in adoration mode.
I didn’t read the comments yet but 14 years old is high school aged. So the ‘middle school’ is giving me a weird vibe. Wish she would have just said what age in school to clarify. Also, how on Earth did her parents allow her to do that?! I really, really don’t agree with it. Granted I don’t have to agree(LOL)but NOTHING my kids said under any situation would I allow them to drop out of school, ever. I’m not judging her for it but I judge her parents.
14 is typically a freshman age. Depending on the time of year she was born, she could have easily been 14 in the winter or spring of 8th grade. I started high school at 13 because I was born in November and our district cut off was December 1, but many of the kids turned 14 whIle still in 8th grade or the summer between middle school and high school.
It depends on your birthday and your state’s age cut-off. Our’s (FL) was/is September 1st, so almost everyone, myself included, turned 14 in 8th grade and 15 freshman year. Kentucky where I believe Jen is from, might be the same.
I looked at some of her other interviews because I wanted to know how intellectually curious she is and found this in a Vogue profile, “I have a seventh- to halfway through eighth-grade education.” So she may have been 14 at the time but she was doing eight-grade level coursework.
The cut off, when I started school, was December 2. My dad would have been 13 at the end of his 8th grade year while I, born after the cut off date, was 14 at the end of my 8th grade year. So, yes, it’s possible she was 14 in junior high. I believe California, or at least several school districts, have changed the cut off date to September from December.
my daughter is turning 14 in April, and she is in grade 8 which is middle school in Alberta. My other daughter will turn 14 in November of grade 9. Our school division cutoff is Feb 28th, which is weird.
Makes sense to me why she has gravitated towards some of these older men. That have more experience. Sometimes you search for what you think deep down that you lack in yourself. I have always gotten the impression from her that no she is not dumb; but she is not as secure as she likes the world to think she is. One reason for her behavior; which looks from the outside as she is just being “REAL”.
How much is an Oscar worth, when you won it as Weinstein’s protégé in the Weinstein era?
@C.REMM
This comment is so wrong.Sexist and mysogenist.
@C. Remm. Why don’t you ask Matt Damon and Ben Affleck?
What a trashy comment.
Given the stories that have come out about Harvey Weinstein bullying, intimidating, blackmailing, and spreading false and injurious stories about people, this doesn’t strike me as an entirely unfair question regarding any of the Oscar winners that Weinstein championed, male or female.
Of course my question is aimed at every Oscar winner – female and male – who were protégés of Weinstein. Not just Jennifer Lawrence. What is there to trust after Weinstein?
I know that he made sure that movies would not make it into the US theaters when the Producer and Director of that movie refused to make certain changes to their movie which Weinstein demanded of them.
JLaw had never even met Weinstein when she was first nominated for an Oscar.
When she first came to Weinstein’s attention she was an Oscar nominee with two major franchises under her belt. Weinstein preyed on vulnerable and unknown women, and those starting out in their careers, or those suffering in a career lull. By all accounts he made a show of being “respectful” towards women who had already achieved fame and power. For him to prey on a woman who was already a major critical and commercial star before they ever met, does not fit his pattern of predation.
But sure don’t let the facts get in the way of your misogyny.
@Meggies Go back and watch the opening credits for The Hunger Games. The Weinstein Company was involved.
@SANDRA
You’re wrong. The Weinstein Company wasn’t involved in The Hunger Games and in the opening credits you see only Lionsgate. You can also read it on IMDB, Wikipedia and so on. I don’t understand the need to say that Weinstein was involved when it’s a lie.
I wonder in general what will happen to people closely associated with him and got career bumps or help across the board. Since people in entertainment hold grudges will some hold prior relationships with him against the person? Only time will tell I suppose.
Just one more thing to add to my dislike of her. I don’t find her particularly talented as an actress; she’s had some good roles though. She’s no Chaststain nor Winslet nor Streep.
Those three (and a few others) bring what appears to be a college-educated presence to the screen. They can play characters that are intellectually inferior but also play roles that are intellectually superior. I’m afraid Lawrence cannot. Just imagine Lawrence in Zero Dark Thirty, or The Post, or Sense and Sensilbilty.
A college education is really the only realistic way to move ahead in the US, where success is achieved (not ascribed). Pity for her.
Sorry, but I really don’t find Chastain to be in the same category as Streep or Winslet, although I recognize I’m likely in the minority here.
Chastain may be well educated, but the only role I’ve found her to be believable in as an actress was Celia in “The Help”. Casting her as a brilliant scientist in both Interstellar and in the Martian was ludicrous, in my opinion.
Agreed. Jessica is hardly some great thespian.
Agreed…JC is only medicore, IMO!
Yeah, I’m finding Chastain’s performances becoming increasingly one-note. She’s basically the Vin Diesel of the art house now.
Winslet went to a performing arts high school. She technically finished high school because she scraped by just before the UK system cracked down on schools like that making ridiculous allowances for students, but in reality she was barely there from 15 and essentially a drop out from 16.
Her story isn’t that different from Lawrence’s.
That is just so sad. I treasure my (many years of) education. I’m guessing that some media outlet got hold of the truth and was about to expose her education lie so she beat them to the punch. Shame on her parents and shame on the studios that didn’t require on-set education at the very least.
This is super common with actors, pop stars, etc… and then they are always coached to say that they got a GED, which you know never happened. Most of them had a formal education that stopped at about 8th grade and sometimes it really shows, like when they write their own instagram captions and tweets.
And, yet, these uneducated actors, and pop stars have such an influence on some people, especially their young fans. As parents, we all need to do a better job of making sure that our kids have a well rounded sense of the people and professions of the world.
The majority of women in the world do not have any access to education, and are sent into the sex trade or “marriage” at an early age. Most female characters in Hollywood movies seem to have no education, but are merely in stories as sex objects for male audiences. Coincidence?
Well, that’s it! In some parts of the world girls get shot in the head for pursuing an education! Why pass up the opportunity, when it’s free & acceptable? Knowledge is power.
Fourteen? Wow. A lot of celebs you hear about 17, but 14? Guy Ritchie got kicked out of his last school at 15 and so he dropped out.
Pacino dropped out of the School of Performing Arts at 17, but had been failing before that. An excerpt from a very long interview in The New Yorker of an interesting observation he made about himself and his lack of education.
“Part of Pacino’s fervor for Wilde comes from a desire to claim the writer’s intelligence and eloquence. “I’m quite timid when it comes to challenging the status quo,” he said. “Oscar had the brains to back it up.” Pacino, whose formal education ended in tenth grade, grappled for years with a sense of intellectual inadequacy. Early in his career, after a breakthrough performance in Israel Horovitz’s 1968 play “The Indian Wants the Bronx,” Pacino appeared on “The Merv Griffin Show,” and, in front of a television audience of millions, he froze. “He just couldn’t do it,” Horovitz recalled. “He felt he had nothing to say. He was humiliated by his own presence. He wasn’t the character he was playing—he was Al.” Pacino’s devotion to acting is, in a way, a defense against that self-doubt. Having a script to work from gives him, he said, a kind of license. “I can talk, I can speak, I have something to say,” he explained. “You don’t need a college education. All the things that you were inhibited to talk about and understand—they can come out in the play. The language of great writing frees you of yourself.”
can we up-vote? lols. spot-on.
wow…this reminds me of Tom Cruise! Whenever, I see him in an interview or anywhere, he always seems to be “on”. It’s like, he does not know how to be Tom Cruise, the person, he is always Tom Cruise, the actor…High school drop out, that told Matt Lauer on the Today show, that he has studied psychiatry, and knows that it is bad for people. lol Of, course, he did go to the school of Scientology (eyeroll)!
Personally, I’m not blaming J-Law because she dropped out of school. It can happen, for a lot of different reasons (still, middle school it’s way too eary imo). It’s the way she says it, like not going to school made her that successful and able to archieve her dreams.
She, and others like her, are/were BEYOND LUCKY. They are the exception, not the rule. And saying things carelessly like she said is misleading and wrong, especially for all the young kids following her.
There is no profession in the world where education would be wasted. It is not only learning about facts; it is learning how to learn. It stokes curiosity and expands everyday experiences.
Interesting post Jayna.
How can she expect anyone to take her seriously, considering she’s allegedly taking a year off to “educate people on politics”, when she herself isn’t educated? I lost a lot of respect for her on this. Some young actors go to art schools specifically for molding them and helping them go on to Hollywood and then we hear her story. It makes me cringe honestly.
Why is it so hard to believe someone can educate themselves? Why are we so fixated on a government set of standards. Jennifer is honestly more intelligent than a lot of Americans who did finish high school
Because being able to pick and choose what you learn and what sources you learn from is a surefure way to have massive gaps. For example, I sincerely doubt that Lawrence is learning your basic logic structures.
Part of learning is also about discipline and learning things at the moment that don’t seem important but are useful later.
I want to throw out there that my high school didn’t speak the word “feminist”, or any version of it, and it wasn’t until college that I understood what it really meant. I know tons of idiots with high school diplomas or the equivalent. I wouldn’t be the person I am today with college! I guess what I’m trying to say is that I did/said some dumb crap in high school and post high school. I think she needs the college experience to help her.
I am never the person that says Hollywood needs to watch what they said because young ears are listening…….but I think it was really irresponsible to throw this out there and then say I’m ‘self-educated’. STAY IN SCHOOL KIDS!!!! YOU ARE NOT JLAW!!!!! YOU CANNOT DO ANYTHING IN LIFE WITHOUT A HS EDUCATION.
Will they address the ‘she graduated top of her class 2 years early’ story?
WHY DOES MY PHONE CHANGE ‘without’ to ‘with’ every damn time?!?! Ugh*****I wouldn’t be the person I am WITHOUT college!!!!!*****
Sorry, I mobile post. That’s also why I’m not the grammar police on here.
I did wonder a bit, at first.😉
That black eyeliner makes her look dead.
Everything worked out for her, but I think she should have gotten the high school diploma. I don’t think everyone (well, actor anyway) needs a degree, but it is a little strange not to want to get your high school diploma (or GED). That’s basic level education, and you only need to stay in till you’re 18.. It’s also free; college isn’t (which is why some people can’t get a degree). I’m shocked her parents didn’t make her finish.
I think I’m judging her parents more than anyone else. I don’t see how she could have dropped out without them consenting to it — she’s close to them.
So, did she not even finish middle school? I can’t wrap my head around this.
Also kids remember she has wealthy parents who could support her but i love here everyone still falls for her schtick if this was shailene woodley she’d get roasted
Do you not read the comments? People here are always ragging on Jennifer Lawrence, just as they are in this post.
I don’t even understand this, it’s illegal to not have a kid in school until they are 16? She must have been getting something??
Is there more where she talked about how she does seek out information? For someone who had artistic aspirations with Mother!, does she actually seek out education or enrichment?
I don’t think she would think of herself as anti-intellectual and I get more of an insecure, defensive vibe (otherwise why would her people tell such a ridiculously detailed lie about her homeschooling performance) so I’m curious about how she does educate herself.
And her parents are stage parents for letting this happen. Money keeps a roof over your head and the lights on but there is a perpetual vulnerability without a basic education, especially considering the amount of money she has.
Maybe she didn’t so much ‘drop out’ as start to learn at home, between auditions or whatever. My brother hated school and did similar (minus the auditions) – he left school, started practically living at the library, sort of formulated his own curriculum and my mom was supportive. I thought he was crazy, but it worked. He did go on and get his GED and then went away to college and got a teaching degree (ironic, since he didn’t like school lol). She may have had a similar plan to get a GED but started getting work and scrapped that plan. It’s not really a big deal, but it is important to kind of let kids who may look up to her more of the full story, because while I can’t hate on a GED – my college roommate got one, lots of people choose that route – dropping out of school to fully pursue acting without a backup plan isn’t a good idea. My point is that maybe she HAD a backup plan, but acting took off and she went with it.
Ok I understand all the Kardashian love now. She really should take some of her millions and get an education now. I know someone above posited that many actors and crew aren’t educated, but I’ve found that especially in this day and age, that’s not really the case. Even her costar Bradley Cooper went to Georgetown. I’ve looked up many young actors and found their educational background, and most of them have a BA, they’ve gone to Tisch, or some other prestigious acting school. So she is really the exception, not the rule. There are a lot of young people out there who are serious about their craft, and if my (hypothetical) son or daughter wanted to be an actor, they’d better learn about it.
I tend to think more actors are educated than not too. Maybe the ones that hit stratospheric level success are high school dropouts (maybe Tom Cruise is?), but the rest seem to be educated enough. Then again, maybe that defensiveness about being less educated is what makes people like Tom Cruise so motivated beyond belief to hit the top (and stay there). (At the same time, it also makes him more susceptible to Scientology.)
It is the somewhat the exception not to have at least gone to college whether the person graduated is a different story.
I understand the point of some of the arguments being made here, that education is invaluable and it’s a privilege to have access to it— one that shouldn’t be taken for granted. But DAMN, y’all. Some of you really need to check how judgmental and elitist you sound right now. It’s not good. “She was probably held back” and “no wonder she sounds so stupid” etc etc?? I get that you don’t like her, and you’re upset that she didn’t include anything about the importance of education, but in the end it’s her life and you guys are being unnecessarily mean. And I mean really, really mean. My grandfather didn’t get anything past a middle school education and he went on to become a highly successful entrepreneur and raise 3 kids. If you heard him speak, rest his soul, and then found out he never got anything more than an eighth grade education, would you then say “No wonder he sounds so stupid”?? Just because it’s Jennifer Lawrence and she’s an actress doesn’t mean you have the right to be so nasty.
I don’t think she’s stupid. I think she has raw intelligence. I feel you need some to get to her level of success. But I think people are shocked because it’s not necessarily difficult for someone of her current generation and who comes from a privileged-enough family to finish up high school. Previous generations probably couldn’t finish high school, but nowadays if you come from a middle-class family who is supportive it shouldn’t be too difficult. You don’t even have to get As. She could have gotten Ds and still have the diploma on her wall.
Honestly, I’m judging her parents more than anything else.
Right, but there’s a clear difference between being shocked and being a total d!ck just because you don’t like someone, and that is absolutely happening on this thread.
Thank you, Shambles. The same is true of my grandfather. These comments had me thinking about him, he was a wonderful man, intelligent and kind. He and my grandmother raised four children and retired early to travel the world.
I feel like people are allowing their dislike for Jennifer to give them license to say very cruel things about her. Those things are unintentionally unkind to anyone without an education, like her. I feel bad for Jen that she wasn’t supported in getting an education by her parents, but that’s not her fault, and it doesn’t make her ‘dumb.’
Exactly Shambles. None of my grandparents finished school, but that was normal back then for them and they all ended up being successful in their fields. And yes, a lot of people are being really mean & nasty upthread, but I’m not surprised. Something about Jennifer really irks certain people. I don’t get it. I think she’s harmless (and not stupid). It’s like this on every J-Law post. I’m gonna guess the comment count will be pushing 300 by the end of the day and most of it will be negative.
I only judge her parents for this. Just wanted to add my grandfather was the youngest of 12 kids, dirt poor, dropped out in 6th grade to help run the family farm. He is a millionaire. Every one of his grandchildren have at least a bachelors degree. He is also a white male. I have no idea how much privilege came into it but he did hussle his buns off. His parents also made that decision for him, much like JLaw. I still just can’t believe her parents allowed this?! I would have dropped out in middle school if my parents let me. Every winter I would have quit school. Midwest girl here and it was negative degrees in winter time to and from school. Plus, I am a night owl. I am my most creative and brilliant when the sun is sleeping. (LOL) So waking up at 6am wasn’t my jam.
Thank you for this bit of sanity! I’m a high school dropout myself and very successful. I’m proud of the fact that I’m self made and got to where I am against all odds. I did it my way and would not change a thing. I’m pretty shocked by the comments I’ve read here today.
Serious question. Could you imagine if one of your kids wanted to drop out of school super early to be an actress? Would you be okay with that?
Part of what frustrates me is that there are a LOT of reasons why people drop out of high school. There are people who would kill for the opportunity for an education, that she so cavalierly shakes off.
None of my grandparents finished high school and some didn’t finish grade school and they managed businesses and did well. However they were born prior to the Depression and the world in which they managed to succeed no longer exists. Even some baby boomers close to my parents age managed to have a decent job without finishing high school. However they were lucky. It is now a world where jobs do not last for 30 years and you can retire. Things change constantly and you need to have marketable skills and be trainable. If you can’t handle high school, which by the way has been dumbed down compared to generations past since kids don’t get kept back anymore, then you will have a hard time getting a decent job for a living. This is the real world we currently live in and to pretend otherwise is being obtuse.
If she had learning issues, there now exists the help to deal with them that did not exist in our grandparents age. But not even doing her GED at this point, which she as an adult can do anytime, isn’t a positive.
JLaw got lucky and keep in mind she isn’t even 30 yet. She has a long ways to go.
She chose to proudly put this out there for public consumption, as though to prove how dedicated she is to her craft. Her parents apparently willingly let her drop out of school at 14. Hell yes I’m asking if something else was going on. Was the held back? Was there an undiagnosed learning disability? Or is she just an entitled dick? She CHOSE to put this out there.
I hope you will say the same comments about the elitism and judgement that WOC get on this site about education. People really relished in calling Beyonce ‘slow’ and stupid for not finishing school.
It is funny how the double standards work with the commenters here. They are very nuanced.
Yep, I noticed that about Beyonce. I defended her as saying she has a southern black American accent. I am familiar with it from spending time in the south. Plenty of brilliant black people have the same accent.
I noticed it too.
There is some nuance to it like you said. How about what people say about black athletes?
So yeah I drag Jennifer Lawrence. Her statement OOZES with white privilege. Ask a Latino or an Asian actor or any actor of color if they would have dared make that choice? Ask an immigrant’s child.
Her lack of self-awareness is staggering sometimes.
I’m with you on the way people use that card on Beyonce. They’ve been doing that for years.
I am a teacher and a Lecturer in a BEd program, getting my Doctorate and I appreciate your comment Shambles. The greatest success that formal education does is socialize people into a Westernized way of thinking. IF she is willing to self-educate about world issues, math concepts and be well-read, she’s still educating herself. That doesn’t seem to be her narrative here though, which may end up influencing impressionable young people. I do think formal education is much more important and valuable to society than no education, and a worldly education trumps both.
@Shambles I will admit to having gone off her.
But before she said this, I questioned her judgment, and she seemed immature. She lacks awareness in her statements. For years they pushed a false a narrative, and when she speaks, she should be responsible.
My grandparents on one side did not finish middle school and lived in dire poverty until my parent, the first to not only go to college but to an Ivy became very successful. This parent then inspired others to go to college and pushed education on others, and that lifted many of them out of poverty into the middle and upper middle classes. Even now if someone from that side wants to go to college, they will pay for it.
On the other side, they fled the Holocaust and affluent families leaving everything behind to begin again in America. My grandmother, in particular, lived a pampered childhood like an aristocrat. But as an immigrant, it didn’t matter because she had nothing. My grandfather didn’t go to college. He worked hard and became a self-made man but not in a bubble and not without unusually sharp entrepreneurial instincts that seem to be part of that gene pool. He is self-educated but determined and dedicated to it even in his advanced age.
I am not so sure these kinds of success stories can happen anymore. They are a reflection of a different time when upward mobility was accessible for people with the right skin color and gender. They also emphasized education for their children and understood they were the exception. Part of their working so hard was to be able to educate their children.
For me, my feelings are about Jennifer only. For HER situation and access. It is not a referendum on lack of education. We are discussing exceptions. Not the rule. And it pertains to white skin and really no one else.
She really is beautiful.
You know what would be AWESOME? If she went back to school and got her diploma, or a GED, or a proficiency test, something.
She has so much power and influence, maybe if she pursues completing her minimal federal education requirements, others might follow her lead?
Now that would make me a big Jlaw fan.
Yeah but why would she? Education is important to some of us not all of us. Jennifer Lawrence if she manages her money right, is set for life. I’m sure in her mind going back for a GED would be a waste of time. And for her it probably would be. Is it going to increase her earning power? No. Is she going to take it seriously and actually find value in it? Probably not. So for her, what would be the point.
Also she’s speaking of her own personal experience. Please give young folks more credit. I don’t think there’s going to be an increase in random kids dropping out of school to be like Jennifer Lawrence. She doesn’t it owe it to anyone to talk about anything other than her own experience. The interview was about her, not a panel on the state of education. Not a panel on rather or not kids should be allowed to stop going to school at 14.
I for one think it’s great that she’s finally being honest.
Yeah, education had nothing to do with Jlaw’s success.
But the honesty of JLaw’s story is that she’s damn lucky she is pretty, young, has sexy body and is/was a Weinstein girl. That’s what got her HW and Oscar success. NOT her acting.
She’s a decent actress in some roles, but not an Oscar worthy actress. But that’s the way Harvey’s Hollywood has been working for quite some time, and he wasn’t the first to capitalize on pushing very young, characteristically-MARKETABLE actresses into Oscar contention at the starting gate of their “prime-time” career. The earlier they (actress) strikes it big, the longer she will be certain* to make $$, especially for all those around her that got her to that first success.
It’s like horse racing. Hollywood is all about wheeling and dealing on what young talent can score big asap with BO and solidify that with an Oscar for the bank roll years to follow. There’s a lot of HW players that have a lot invested in her career, including the Weinstein Co. and friends. There’s never any problem with getting financing for JLaw films. They’re a “sure thing” for returns on $ down.
Just thinking about where my education would have ended if I’d dropped out of the 8th grade makes me feel sad for her.
She seems insecure about it in the interview. I mean she’s saying she’s self-educated, but she seems ashamed or defensive when she actually admits that she dropped out. I wouldn’t be surprised if one day she gets her GED.
Right now I think she’s still in the mindset that she made the right decision so she’s not turning back, but as she matures I can see her admitting to herself that it does matter to her.
She was lucky enough to find what worked for her and be extremely successful in that field without needing any degree. How many people can say the same thing?
Honestly, I find it really bad who judges the choices of others
She was lucky enough to find what worked for her and be extremely successful in that field without needing any degree. How many people can say the same thing?
Honestly, I find it really bad who judges the choices of others in the way some people are using here.
Honestly, I think she can have both her high school diploma and the level of success she has now. For her, in particular, I don’t think it needs to be either/or. She’s smart enough to have her high school diploma.
Exactly – she was extremely lucky. She is .0001% the exception to someone dropping out with an 8th grade education. I’m hoping that in the full interview she discourages other kids from wanting to do this because the fact is, they are not going to be J-Law. It’s strange that she’d bring this up when she’s about to go try and be a role model to high school students when she herself is a drop out. Either way, her parents letting her do this was still illegal and it’s neglectful parenting.
She was 14. There have been many articles talking about how she said she was lonely as a teen and that her family moved for her career. This screams of parents not parenting. I told my husband and we both felt like this falls under abusive parenting. No 14 year old whose family moves for them to get job opportunities “chose” to drop out. She didn’t choose anything. Her parents chose. Hell, she probably just got her period the year before. I find this incredibly sad.
I’m now wondering if her parents were the typical child-star parents and things luckily worked out for her.
I really don’t understand how a child can drop out of school on their own without someone trying to intervene.
I think Johnny Depp said he dropped out of school young, but I was under the impression he came from a less stable home than Lawrence. Those are usually the kids I hear of dropping out of school. The ones with stable homes generally finish.
Kind of surprised by the vitriol here. I have been extremely successful in my career, but I don’t have a GED either. I wish I’d gotten a better education, but on the other hand I’ve met any number of morons with college degrees. I consider self-education to be a matter of personal responsibility and I actually do read Voltaire in my spare time.
Anyway, I guess what I’d say is, if a 14-year-old decides to drop out of school, that’s not something you can really pin on her in adulthood. That’s on her parents. They let it happen. She was a child. People are allowed to tell their stories without appending a public service announcement every time. It isn’t her job to tell America’s 14-year-olds to stay in school. That’s the job of their parents.
Same here. Dropout, successful, well read, well traveled, speak several languages. I can’t believe some of the patronizing comments I’ve read here today.
I think Jennifer Lawrence has raw intelligence, but she comes from a privileged-enough background that I think she could have finished off 9th grade. I mean, yeah, she’s successful, but dropping out of middle-school nowadays seems …illegal? . She didn’t say she dropped out of high school, but middle-school. That IS shocking. I’m shocked by her PARENTS!
She dropped out at a super young age to become an actress. This isn’t a kid who needed to work during the day to support her family. That’s what’s killing me. An education is a privilege, one that girls around the world literally have died for.
You dropped out at 14 and can do all that? How did you get your first job then? What field has allowed this? Why didn’t you get an education?
There are a lot of holes here.
A lot of actors, actresses, musicians, singers, etc., dropped out of high school, but the age is usually 16 to 17. Hell, Simon Cowell dropped out of high school at the age of 16 and took a mailroom job at EMI, but his father was an executive there. Still, he got where he is today through a great business mind and drive and ambition. He even lost everything once and started over.
But age 14 is extremely young, and I do fault her parents for that. They did have control over her at that point. If she wanted to drop out of public school, being home-schooled or receiving her education on set with a tutor should have been a condition set by her parents as far as allowing Jennifer to take acting roles. At a certain age, true, they wouldn’t have any control, but at age 14, yes, they did.
But I don’t agree with others that she has a responsibility to be a role model for kids. She’s 27. I would rather hear her true thoughts in an interview. We don’t tell that to men who give truthful interviews, like comics, actors, musicians, etc.
Her story could have turned out completely different. A middle school drop out trying to get into acting… JL was incredibly lucky – not just because she became a very successful actress, mostly because she didn’t end up as one of the many (unknown) women and men who were used, abused and tossed into the streets. I’m glad it worked out for her and I hope other aspiring actresses/actors and esp. their parents know this is not the rule.
Also, I work within the school system and watched six kids leaving school without any diploma in the last school year alone. Here in Germany we have ten years of compulsory education and all six of them fulfilled those then years before they even reached 10th grad. Three of them left school after 8th grad (so basicallly middle school). Future is not looking rosy for them. I’m afraid none of the six kids will ever get any further education.
Yeah I’m going to blame her parents and not her on this one. She was a child. As a parent, you tell them “no” or “you ARE going to school”, they hate you for a bit and then life moves on. It’s called the teenage years.
That being said, I hope that in the full interview she adds in that this isn’t encouraged behavior. How is she going to visit high school students for a year and act as if she’s a role model when SHE DROPPED OUT OF SCHOOL?
But…but, is this even LEGAL?
I appreciate her candor as I suspect that many young actors who are “home-schooled”/”tutored” on set are actually in the same boat but never admit it, however, I’ve never heard of a child under the age of 16 being able to kegally drop out of any type of schooling. I mean, her parents were cool with this??
It’s not legal. In most situations, CPS would be notified and would pay a visit to the parents.
Yeah, that’s where my shock is coming off. I just assumed it was illegal.
I’ve read of tennis players dropping out of school, but that usually happens when they’re 16, not 14.
And yet in other parts of the world, girls like Malala get shot in the face for trying to go to school.
This is first world white privelege on full blast.
Exactly! This is what gets me about some of the comments here. Education access is a human right that many people, particularly women and/or minorities, don’t have. The fact that she (and some posters here) can drop out of school and be successful is because of incredible privilege and luck.
And in the US, the trend has been that people need more education for entry-level (at least white collar) jobs. Just because a few people have succeeded doesn’t mean most others will.
Yeah, it really is.
That is why it disturbs me. It lacks self awareness.
To be fair to her, in the clip she doesn’t really look proud of the fact she dropped out. She does look a little shy about her choice. Maybe she is aware she’s one of the lucky ones. I think she’s matter-of-factly stating what her reality is and maybe why it worked for her, but I don’t think she’s necessarily taking pride in it. When she said she doesn’t have her GED, she did seem slightly embarrassed about it.
“I don’t technically have a GED or a diploma.” What does the “technically” even mean? You either have it or you don’t. So maybe she’s a little….reticent…about acknowledging the fact.
I do think her parents are really weird though. Who lets the 14 year old make that kind of decision? Because of the high cost of an undergraduate degree in America, I can see both sides of the equation of why someone might think a degree benefits them or doesn’t benefit them. The long-term financial cost impacts how you view a degree. But I don’t think having a free middle-school or high school diploma hurts anyone.
Her situation is one in a million (or more). She was beyond lucky. For the vast majority, this would have turned into a disaster.
[*Get an education girls.*]
What would she talk about with her older, worldlier boyfriends? I bet her level of conversation is a few points up farts jokes.
Disappointing that a woman with so much influence is like this. No wonder she likes KUWTK, and is even friends with them. she seems to be stuck in teenageland.
That’s why this revelation makes her relationship with much older, Mr. Pretentious Intellectual Aronofsky seem even more lop-sided. Though that might be something he looks for in a partner: someone to fawn over every word he says and call him a genius because he’s much more educated than she is.
Just to clarify, I think she’s amazing, hilarious and beautiful, I love her, she’s just really young and 30-40 years ago you could drop out but these days it’s just not really legal to do it, 100% on her parents, I’m a school counselor and I have conversations with kiddos like her everyday, that’s why I was confused by her saying she was 14 when she did this??
Unbelievable how she never fails to disappoint me. Not because she didn’t get finish middle school, which is basic education (let alone high school), but because she’s glamourazing it.
She could have worked and studied, even out of school if it was too much for her, like I’m sure LOTS of actors and others do all the time.
What the hell does even ‘I don’t regret dropping out of middle school because I wanted to my forge path’ mean? It’s not like you can’t do that if you go to school. It’s one thing to say ‘school wasn’t for me’ because of reasons, but she had the means to get private tutors or whatever else if she really cared about getting an education (hint: she didn’t).
Instead it sounds like she has NO interest for education at all, it doesn’t matter to me if she’s naturally smart or witty or whatever, she sounds dumb and ignorant most of the times -this included.
We need people to fight for education, especially during this time, not the opposite!
Heck, even the Jenner girls graduated middle school.
There are lots of kids that would love to drop out because they’re struggling or bored with school. Hell I can remember not wanting to go sometimes because I hated math class or I’d had a fight with my best friend and I didn’t want to face her that day. But my parents still made me go. It’s on the parents to be parents and make their kids finish their legally required amount of education. Yes, she could have worked while doing online classes or getting a tutor, but her parents neglected that. She was a child: it’s on them, not her to be making that decision. J-Law could have chosen her words more carefully, but I think it’s the parents we need to be disappointed in. In any stage-parents that neglect their child’s education.
Also I looked it up and the Jenner girls both graduated high school. Or at least that’s what the interwebs says. Up until now, J-Law has always said she fast-tracked high school and graduated with a high GPA. That turned out to be false, so who knows.
I totally agree and I blame her parents a lot. But, as an adult you can fix that. There’s no shame in getting the education you lacked even if you are older, if you want it.
I remember reading about her ‘high schoo life’, from Glamour:
“For Lawrence, the athleticism required for that role (“running, fighting, whatever it is, we were doing that for 12 hours a day or more”) started in high school—where she played softball, basketball, field hockey, and was a cheerleader—per her parents’ orders.. ”
She lied a lot. Surely, that was poorly handled by her people, and parents, but she was old enough to know about the consequences of doing so.
Kourtney K has a degree.
So many successful entertainers regret not having an education because in social settings it does show with lack of basic facts.
I saw Christine Baranski on a show the other night, and she spends summers at Oxford taking courses in a wide variety of subjects because she likes to learn.
She can fix this if she wants to. What a statement that would make.
She really seems still stuck at 14 years old. The things she says and does make her look very immature. I don’t believe she is really smart either
I had better things to do than go to high school when I was a teenager because I wasn’t a nerd.
Both of my parents were Depression-Era babies, large families, dirt poor. My mother felt her poverty keenly; none of this ‘we were poor but didn’t know it’. She knew. And after completing 8th grade (with graduation certificate), she went to work and never stopped. But—her jobs were always low paying, like waitressing & store clerk. She always emphasized getting a good education to me, always. (My dad did, too, but now he’s an anti-intellectual Fox News consumer, but enough about that.)
how does she plan on saving our democracy ?? She better start studying.
Kristen Stewart didn’t pass the 6th grade and we listen to her, too.
I read that K. Stewart actually finished HS thanks online courses and graduated when she was filming the Twilight trilogy.
Kristen was very proud of completing high school even though older at 19. She brought it up in an interview back when she was graduating.
Her brand of neoliberal feminism might actually come from the fact she’s uneducated about history and privilege. I find it bs when she schools the world about feminism but seems utterly unaware of her own enormous privilege by proudly admitting that “having a formal education would get in the way of her dreams”.
Meh.
Don’t care.
I ran off to NY in my teens, got my GED in my 20s and became a pharmacist in my 30s.
As time goes on, the more I think this site is for feminists as long as they thing/see/feel the same as everyone else.
I’ve literally worked with interns that didn’t know how to use their debit card, or couldn’t understand that something could be fat free (sugar) but still have calories.
But hey, they finished high school. Does that make them better?
No.
Different strokes.
Maybe if she had finished school she might have learned somewhere along the way that talking publicly about your belches and farts is neither funny nor cute.
Except that’s not the point of education and there isn’t a class that teaches you that. Jen does that because she thinks it’s cute. It’s clear to me that a lot of people have no idea what actually goes on at most schools. And people continue to conflate acceptable formal education with intelligence and class. Going to school doesn’t necessarily make people more intelligent or classy.
I’ve met people my age who finished high school and attended college and some of them aren’t any smarter than your average drop out. I also learned from my high school guidance counselor, that it’s usually not “dumb” kids who drop out of school. It’s actually usually “smart” kids who are bored out of their mind.
Some things you learn simply by associating with your peers. Doesn’t have to be a class for it.
She never should have admitted this. The comments here are all the evidence of that you need. It’s no one’s business, and it just gives internet flamers one more excuse to abuse her.
I don’t think it was a good decision but COMPLETELY get why she lied about it now. The wrong type of people will probably use this fact as an excuse to say sexist things from now on, in a way a white male drop-out would be exempt from. It’s true that it would be worse if she were a famous POC.
Yep, agree with all points.
I just saw her 60 Minutes interview, so insightful and funny. Really a good interview
I’m definitely homeschooling/unschooling my kid. Public education has the side effect of destroying curiousity and self-motivation. Even if it doesn’t destroy it completely, kids graduate wondering, what’s my passion? All because they are never trusted to decide for themselves.
Childhood should be a time of supported exploration and experimentation. I can’t tell you how many times teachers told me not to read ahead in the book, not to explore this topic, not to deviate from the busywork. It was soul-crushing. The most valuable thing I learned in public school was how to navigate a bureaucracy to meet my own goals.
I do agree that choosing the correct type of education makes a difference. I don’t like traditional structure either.
What? At 14, you’re way too young to think career! Being an actress is fantasy, not a career. Only a lucky few ever get there. She’s beyond privileged, as her parents must have supported her dream, money-wise. Anyone else would be on the street. She could still go back to school, though. There’s no excuses for telling fart & belching jokes at 30 yrs of age. After a certain time, it’s not cute. Boy, does her face look so blank in these pictures. Now, I know why….haha
But, it is the US after all. We have a toddler as president. That’s why people don’t value an education anymore. It’s a terrible aspect of our culture, and we’re paying the price for it. At least, the poorest of us are…
Well, I don’t know how education is in USA, but I can understand why a teenager wouldn’t think twice before dropping high school (where she feels bored, not motivated, dumb and out of place) to seek anyhthing that makes her blood run faster, if the parents can support it emotionally and financially. Should we praise her? No, but not shaming her either. The key is the heavy support, I guess.
I don’t think Jennifer Lawrence is smart or witty. I do think she’s CHARMING and pretty and a skilled actress which, yes, is a skill. But this is a terrible, awful thing to brag about. For every J-Law/Hillary Swank Oscar-winner/drop out story, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of uneducated, beautiful young women who want to be famous, but end up instead in abusive situations, addiction, pornography and/or sex trafficking, or just a plain old lifetime of poverty due to their lack of supervision and education in childhood.
Also, not finishing middle school is illegal. School is mandatory in California until the age of 18, unless you’ve already graduated or received an equivalency certificate. What she says she did is against the law, against all SAG/AFRTRA union rules and a severe violation of child labor laws, which are strictly enforced and penalized on set. No actual smart person would brag about it.
I mean, honestly? I’d have probably done the same thing. She found a channel for her talent and received immense success for it. The majority of us will never be that lucky, but such is life. I think there’s a careful balance to be had about not downplaying the significance of education (especially as a woman) and acknowledging that college isn’t the end all of intellectual accomplishment. Being educated and having an educated perspective are two very different things, let’s be honest. I would hope for her sake that she strives for the latter.
(I do think Kaiser has a valid point about education systems where neurologically atypical children, though. I have ADHD, and high school was definitely a struggle. I did much, MUCH better in a college setting when I had more control over how I learned and under what time tables.)
Wow! I’m shocked by the judgement. I love the opinion-sharing on this site, but the tone of a lot comments on this post seems to exceed just sharing one’s opinion. It’s almost like the choices she made for her journey are being taken personally.
Well that headline explains a lot.