Anna Kendrick and Aubrey Plaza have features in the September issue of Elle Magazine. It’s all about ladies-turning-30 this year, I guess, and how difficult or easy turning 30 is for some women. I’ll admit it, turning 30 is hard. Not “THIS IS THE END OF MY LIFE” hard, but there is definitely an element of bittersweet angst to that birthday. Anyway, it sounds like Anna Kendrick has had an easier time of it than most women. She was looking forward to turning 30 so much that she was telling people she was 30 when she was 29! INSANE.
On turning 30: “I guess I’ll find out in a lot of ways. I started calling myself 30 when I turned 29. I feel really ready for it. I feel like in your twenties you have to put up with a lot of bullsh-t. I know you have to in your 30s as well, but you can always say, You know what? I’m 30-g–damned years old so I’m going to go home before 2am because I can. I’m excited for that.”
The best advice she ever received: “I guess I always wanted to [act]. I remember when I was getting ready to perform at the Oscars with Neil Patrick Harris, I ran into James Gordon from Into the Woods, and I told him how nervous I was and he said, “You have to enjoy yourself because the 13-year-old you would punch yourself if you didn’t.” I try to keep that in mind. I think that’s really great advice for everybody. To enjoy yourself in the good moments, and to push yourself in the hard moments.”
The worst advice: “I got some terrible advice when I was really young, which was to not have a back-up plan. It really is terrible advice but I followed it. I had this singularity of focus. I never got to the point where I ever considered seriously doing something else.”
There’s no secret to success: “I don’t know. I don’t really have a serious answer for that. I’m trying to think of a funny answer because so much of it is dumb luck and hard work and some kind of magical mixture of the two. If I had a secret to success, I’d make a lot of money writing a book about it.”
Her New Motto: “I can’t think of anything that wouldn’t make me sound like a pretentious f–kface. Maybe that should be my motto: Don’t be a pretentious f–kface.”
I get what she’s saying about feeling like you don’t have to pretend to be one of the “kidz” anymore, and you do get to an age where you’re like, “Actually, going to hear some hipster band play at a terrible venue and staying out until 3 am sounds like hell on earth, I’d rather stay in and read a book, thanks.” If someone tried to make me go out drinking until 2 am at this point, I would laugh and say “No thanks, I’m fine with staying in, drinking water and obsessing over John Oliver.” It’s not so much “wisdom” as the laziness that comes with not caring about that kind of stuff. Anyway, I do like Anna. She’ll be fine. Her motto is fine.
Photos courtesy of WENN, Elle Magazine.
I really like Anna Kendrick. And I like her motto. Just live life AK and love it.
guys, did she have a slight nose job? her nose looks thinner.
Oh dear sweetheart. I hate to point this out but if you’re a woman you’re going to put up with a lot of bullcr*p whatever age you are.
That was my first thought, too! But ssshh, let her find out for herself.
But she acknowledges that (“I know you have to in your 30s as well, but you can always say, You know what? I’m 30-g–damned years old so I’m going to go home before 2am because I can.”).
I thought that as well – the BS is never ending! But I do think I’m a lot less willing to put up with it in my 30s than I was in my 20s.
I’m 26 turning 27 and I do that now. I’m not “NO, I’m going to stay home, watch Family Feud, walk around my house and try to get in bed by 9…. maybe go to the gym after eating a pint of ice cream. Maybe.” Heave on earth right there.
Sorry to break it to you Anna, but you have to put up with bullshit in your 30’s too. Piled higher and deeper.
It’s true. And having recently entered my 40’s….the BS is still there. The difference is, you care a HELL of a lot less 😉
So true! But at 40, it sorts itself.. probably bc you can’t mentally or physically accommodate BS anymore. And what a blessing that is.
YES! And the BS you deal with is in a different form. No longer caring if my shoes are cool enough for the club or what Stacy told Josh about me yesterday is awesome.
I was out with some friends, also in their very late 30’s, recently and we watched some 20’s gals toddle along, clearly in pain, in 6 inch heels and shorty shorts and we wordlessly looked at each other and smiled in our comfortable, yet stylish flats.
I’m in my 50s and still getting BS so must have missed the “how to avoid BS” memo ( which is an email these days) .
About to turn 49 and I missed the “less BS” memo as well. I think women of all ages get handed a lot of BS and whether you want it or not it infiltrates your thoughts. I’m having a hard time dealing with the gray hair, the ageism that exists everywhere from work to the gym, I could go on and on. I’m having a way harder time with the “50” milestone approaching next year than I did with the 30th or 40th..maybe because it has been a long time since anyone told me I look younger than my stated age. I hate aging
and I’m not going to pretend I’m in a great spot right now even though I’m soooo much wiser now.
Bless her heart, really do Bless, she seems to be so nice/fun in interviews But I can’t do her and her vaguely rodenty face Like I can’t do her movies or anything… but I want her to succeed and all
It’s weird I can’t figure out if I really like her or not. Maybe I’m just indifferent. I want to like her -I think- if that helps. 😜 What I did like was the fact she pointed out that often times success is just dumb luck. Many celebs act like they scratched their way to the top – especially reality Stars- when they clearly got lucky and/or had connections. Success isn’t always about hard work and doesn’t just come to you because you want it.
Her motto is on point.
Damn she looks 22, I never knew how old she was.
It took me a while to get to a point where i didn’t feel like a loser or no fun to not want to go out and PARTY!! all the time. It’s just not me. I like meeting up with friends for dinner and a drink and having the occasional wild night – i d think it’s good for your mental health to get out and about a bit – but im never happier than being sat at home with a boxset and a big take out meal!
Clubbing is SO overrated. My best friend lives in a major city and i used to visit her quite a bit when she was in college. She was always out partying and i really thought she loved it. It was only later years that she admitted that she only used to go out so much because that’s what her roommates and college friends were doing. She would have been happy staying in.
I wonder how many of us are really like that – and are just too afraid of being called boring
Same here. I used to go to a lot of stuff I didn’t want to because friends would insist, insist, insist, but I was miserable half the time. It was actually after I turned 30 that I started putting my foot down and saying NO to events I really don’t wanna go. It was liberating! I like to go to the movies and shopping and out to lunch, but my favorite thing in the world is staying at home with a book or my computer or a bunch of episodes of my favorite series. It’s fantastic to be our kind of “boring”.
I remember when I was 20, I thought 30 was so old!! When I turned 30 I actually liked it same as 40 then 45. I just turned 48 & feel so proud!! I don’t feel 48, but I look back at life lessons & have realized how much I’ve learned & aside from a couple of choices I wish I wouldn’t have made, I’m feeling pretty good. My next thought is menopause! That scares the crap out of me, I’ve heard so many terrifying things about it. My 21 yr old son is like, “mom if u go crazy ur taking pills. If that doesn’t work I’m putting u in a home”!! Yeah, we’re both scared of the ‘unknown’. I’m not ready for it!!!!!
i strongly dislike both of these women…not sure why…
their faces maybe?
their voices…their acting…
maybe all of it.
Kendrick always looks like she’s smelling a fart…and Plaza just bores me to death.
I honestly thought I was the only person who didn’t like Anna Kendrick (or her face).
Anna K is such a talented actress- and love her in Pitch Perfect-1&2. Her interviews are pretty funny.
“No thanks, I’m fine with staying in, drinking water and obsessing over John Oliver.” – that’s exactly how all my evenings looked like this week. I’m having a hard time in my 20’s and I’m obsessing over every little detail and what others think, but strangely – wanting to appear fun and partying even though I hate it was not one of the things I thought I have to do. All of the parties I’ve ever attended where disasters – I’m always that one person who gets hurt or robbed, so I made that decision about being boring and staying home already in my late teens. But that made me lose most of my friends, so maybe I should have. It kind of makes sense – since most young people seem to love partying, you try to appear fun in your 20’s to build that friend circle, so then when you’re in your 30’s, you should be able to afford to not be fun and still keep your friends. In theory. But then you can lose them for million other reasons.
Yeah… but what if you are 30 and WANT to stay out longer than 2am? Then everybody looks at you like you missed the memo that at 30 you have to calm down and stay at home on Friday nights and wear your hair shorter or something like that.
Also: it’s easy to be okay with being 30 when you look like you’re in your early 20s like Anna. 😉 I’m sure she’ll be fine with roles for years to come because of that. Other actresses in their early 30s who look their age (or maybe even a bit more mature) have a harder time, I’m sure.