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Jennifer Lawrence opens up about 'vanishing' from the Hollywood spotlight

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Jennifer Lawrence

After being a Hollywood staple, Jennifer Lawrence vanished from the public eye following the release of "X-Men Dark Phoenix" in 2019.

Sure, the pandemic had something to do with that … in addition to the usual way our society treats Hollywood "it" girls, once it grows accustomed to the flavor. But in a recent interview with Vanity Fair, Lawrence opens up about some other reasons she chose to step away for a time.

Lawrence went from being a highly sought-after Oscar-winning actress to starring in less-than-successful films like "Passengers," "Mother!" and "Red Sparrow." The films were not only poorly received among critics, but commercially as well.

"I was not pumping out the quality that I should have," she told VF. "I just think everybody had gotten sick of me. I'd gotten sick of me. It had just gotten to a point where I couldn't do anything right. If I walked a red carpet, it was, 'Why didn't she run?'"

So then, why do it? As any workaholic would know, it's about so much more than money.

"I think that I was people-pleasing for the majority of my life," she went on. "Working made me feel like nobody could be mad at me: 'Okay, I said yes, we're doing it. Nobody's mad.' And then I felt like I reached a point where people were not pleased just by my existence. So that kind of shook me out of thinking that work or your career can bring any kind of peace to your soul."

Even friends noticed the toll it took on her. Justine Polsky, her best friend for 13 years, remarked that "the protocol of stardom began to kill her creative spirit, to fuck with her compass. So, she vanished, which was probably the most responsible way to protect her gifts. And sanity."

She concluded that "I didn't have a life. I thought I should go get one."

I don't think you need to be a famous, successful actress to understand that statement. The pandemic made many of us realize how much we let our lives revolve around work, until suddenly that part of our identities shifted drastically.

Jennifer Lawrence, Jennifer Lawrence vanity fair

Jennifer Lawrence kiss GIF by BAFTA

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So, she got back to life, and in a big way. She married art gallerist Cooke Maloney and enjoyed the simple things … like grocery shopping.

"I really enjoy going to the grocery store with him. I don't know why but it fills me with a lot of joy. I think maybe because it's almost a metaphor for marriage. 'Okay, we've got this list. These are the things we need. Let's work together and get this done.'"

Maloney and Lawrence are even expecting a child together, though that aspect of her life will be kept (rightly so) under wraps.

"If I was at a dinner party, and somebody was like, 'Oh, my God, you're expecting a baby,' I wouldn't be like, 'God, I can't talk about that. Get away from me, you psycho!' But every instinct in my body wants to protect their privacy for the rest of their lives, as much as I can. I don't want anyone to feel welcome into their existence. And I feel like that just starts with not including them in this part of my work."

Jennifer's new movie, "Don't Look Up," premieres December 10. As she returns to the spotlight, she carries the lessons many of us have learned after being removed from the hustle and grind: that sometimes the simplest things are the most joyous things, and that taking breaks helps bring our best self.

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Scarlett Johansson is the top-grossing actor in 2016. Here's what's wrong with that.

She makes big bucks for Hollywood for a bargain.

It was just announced that Scarlett Johansson is 2016's top grossing actor.

Yes, that means she made more money for the movies she worked on than any other actor — male or female.

Collectively, her films raked in $1.2 billion worldwide over the past year. She was also named highest grossing actress ever this past summer, thanks largely in part to her ass-kicking role of Black Widow in "The Avengers."

Not too shabby, Ms. Johansson.

Photo by AFP/Getty Images.

Before you throw on your party clothes and celebrate women finally besting men financially in Hollywood though, remember this — top grossing doesn't mean top earning.

Sure, Johansson may have made over a billion dollars for the producers who employed her, but a very small percentage of that actually went into her pocket.

Photo by Antony Harvey/Getty Images.

In fact, according to Forbes, if you weigh Johansson's salary against her overall gross, she's quite the bargain. For every $1 she earns, she brings in $88.60 for the studios, which actually makes her Hollywood's best female value.

Starting to see the problem?

She still makes a lot of money by average person standards, but the point is, she's not making what she's worth. And she's not alone.

In fact, when you look at the top earning actors in 2016, you won't see a woman's name in the top five.

Jennifer Lawrence. Photo by Matt Winkelmyer/Getty Images.

According to Forbes, the highest paid actress in 2016 was Jennifer Lawrence with $46 million — that puts her in sixth place. The highest paid actor overall was Dwayne Johnson (aka "The Rock") at $64.5 million — that's an $18.5 million wage gap right there.

And it gets worse. Forbes' annual list that tracks earnings from June 1, 2015, through June 1, 2016, shows the top 10 highest paid actresses combined earnings were $205 million — less than half that of the top 10 actors' earnings of $456.5 million, collectively.

Ageism also plays a part in this wage gender gap. All top 10 earning actors are over 40, whereas half the top 10 actresses are under 40, and all are under 50.

Needless to say, there's a lot that's wrong with the bias against women in Hollywood, but women are fighting harder than ever to change it — and they're starting to succeed more and more.

Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images.

Emmy Rossum, star of the hit show "Shameless" refused to return to work until she received equal pay to her co-star William H. Macy. Not only did she achieve her appropriate pay, she also received retroactive pay to even out the gap that existed in previous show seasons.

Felicity Jones negotiated the largest salary (far and away above her male co-stars) for her work on "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story."

When Gillian Anderson, star of "The X-Files" television show and subsequent movies, discovered her salary was smaller than her co-star David Duchovny twice (first for the original series, then the 2015 revival), she called it out publicly, and succeeded in righting the wrong both times.  She was compensated accordingly for her role in the TV series and film.

Of course, there's still more work to be done, and it's reflective of the gender inequality across the country.

Women face a gender wage gap in nearly every occupation in America. And that gap grows significantly wider for women of color. So while the salaries of these actresses aren't exactly relatable, the bias they face in the workplace is.

Because of their public influence, however, the stands these women are taking to rectify these inequalities can have a real impact on all of us. As such, it's important we support them and tell the world we too are tired of working hard and making less.  

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Tracee Ellis Ross didn't win an Emmy. But she won our hearts and made history anyway.

The underrepresentation of minorities on television is still a big problem, but there's hope.

Tracee Ellis Ross was nominated for a 2016 Emmy for Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series.

Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP.

Ross was nominated for her role as Rainbow Johnson in "Black-ish," an ABC sitcom about a self-aware and non-stereotypical black family. Ross' character — the matriarch of the family — is half white.

This nomination for Ross marks her first Emmy nod. But most importantly, this is the first time a black actress has been nominated in this category in 30 years. The last black actress to be recognized and nominated for her work in a comedy series was Phylicia Rashad in 1986 for playing Clair Huxtable on "The Cosby Show." But she didn't win; Betty White took home the prize that year.

2016 seemed poised to be Ross' year.

Which is why it was a surprise when Ross lost to Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who accepted her fifth consecutive Emmy in that category for her role on "Veep."

Photo by Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images.

It's not that Dreyfus doesn't deserve it — "Veep" is an incredible piece of media. But why not spread the love? It would've been an amazing moment of recognition for black actresses all over America.

And it also would have helped us talk about the larger problem at hand: a lack of diversity in Hollywood.

The underrepresentation of minorities on television is still a big problem.

A UCLA study on diversity in Hollywood found that out of 825 roles in broadcast scripted programming, only 9% of them went to black actors during the 2013-14 season. All minorities combined accounted for only 20% of those 825 roles.

Ross' nomination was not only symbolic, it was also necessary.

In the late 1980s, the Huxtables on "The Cosby Show" were seen as a "new" type of black family (especially following portrayals on shows like "Good Times" or "Sanford and Son"). The Huxtables were an upper-middle-class family, which is something that was rarely shown on television at the time. The dad (played by Bill Cosby) was a doctor, and the mom was a lawyer.

But that was 30 years ago, and things have changed quite a bit since then. Now "Black-ish" seems to be carrying on the "Cosby Show" torch but in a more realistic, relatable, and modern way. During this season alone, the show has tackled police brutality and a number of other serious issues. They use comedy to start important conversations in people's living rooms, and that's incredibly important.

The cast of "Black-ish." Photo by Mike Windle/Getty Images.

Progress is happening: This year's Emmy nominees are the most racially diverse ever.

It means the landscape for non-white actors is widening, and more people are being given opportunities to show what they can do, like Ross. Plus, Ross' family was so proud, her mom, Diana Ross, even took out a full-page ad in The Hollywood Reporter congratulating the star.

"Women playing a nuanced role in life has been happening for eons, but on TV it’s been few and far between," Ross has said about her role on "Black-ish."

"In 2016, we’re still trying to get the wife role to match who we are in life, which is people who are many things, not just wives."

So while I wish Ross had taken home the Emmy this year, I can't wait to see what else she has in store. Congrats, Tracee!

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Rachel Bloom put out a parody casting call for men. It's hilarious.

"Crazy Ex-Girlfriend" creator and star Rachel Bloom worked as an actor for a long time before she got famous and won a Golden Globe.

Along the way, she got used to seeing casting calls like this:

The notice has offended her so often that Bloom decided to write a parody version of it for the male characters on her show. And it's glorious:

Here's the casting breakdown for the male characters of "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend" written with a male gaze.

A photo posted by Rachel Bloom (@racheldoesstuff) on

"Sexist breakdowns and shallow female characters are almost always synonymous with lazy writing," Bloom said in an email. "Good writers treat every character with respect and imagine who they are beyond their physical attributes."

Men in film, TV, and on stage get to be three-dimensional people with personalities all the time — and when they're not, it's strange.

See, for example, the famous casting breakdown for the musical "Hamilton:"

Compare "Cool, steely reserve." "Dripping with swagger," "Entitled, pouty nihilist" to "attractive," "thin," or wearing "sexy attire" and the problem becomes clear.

The adjectives used to describe the female characters in the Backstage posting contain virtually no information about who those characters actually are as people (except "introverted" — basically code for "seen and not heard"). Are they funny? Intellectual? Where do they come from? Are they religious? Do they like kneeboarding?

We don't know any of that.

The only things we do know are things a dude chatting them up for five minutes at a party might notice about them.

These casting calls suggest that women are still on screen (or on stage) to be looked at, rather than identified with.

Writing fully drawn characters with rich, well-developed inner lives — male or female — isn't easy.

But that's the job.

Putting women on TV or in movies simply so they can play objects of desire says something about what our culture values most about them. In ​a world where women only comprise 34% of major characters in film, every characterization matters.

Thankfully, more TV shows and movies are doing it right these days.

Rachel Bloom. Photo by Chris Delmas/AFP/Getty Images.

Shows like Bloom's "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend," which features a flawed, but fully human, female protagonist for one.

Movies like the Melissa McCarthy-helmed "Spy" and "Ghostbusters," which demonstrate that women can lead giant blockbusters with lots of explosions just as ably as men.

And smash-hit musicals like "Hamilton," which, although it features only a few women, draws them fully and with respect.

Ultimately, women on screen should be just like women in real life.

Talkative nurses who read The Economist and call their brother twice a day. Introverted ferry boat captains who go to church every Sunday and obsess over their stamp collection. Spiky doctors who nervously chew flexi-straws and have a soft spot for amphibians.

And yes, even, occasionally eye candy.

Eye candy who loves nature documentaries and sings in an amateur choir on Tuesdays.

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