On choosing to play the roles of angst-ridden women…
“It’s my chance to challenge myself to the fullest, which is one of the great joys about this job…. I love it when a character requires me to look less than my red-carpet best. It’s more fun playing a character that requires you to look like dog s–t.”
On being heavy when she was younger…
“I will tell you that when I was heavy, people would say to me—and it was such a backhanded compliment—they would say, ‘You’ve got such a beautiful face,’ in the way of, like, ‘Oh, isn’t it a shame that from the neck down you’re questionable.’ ”
On whether or not she’s had plastic surgery or wants to change anything about her body…
“No, I have never tried any of that stuff…. I don’t have parts of my body that I hate or would like to trade for somebody else’s or wish I could surgically adjust into some fantasy version of what they are.”
On what it was like to win the Oscar…
“…I was the kid who never won the races. I never jumped the highest. I wasn’t on the list of the high-achieving. That wasn’t me, so winning the Oscar was like winning all the prizes in one single night that I never won as a kid. For me, it was an internal-fist-pumping moment of yes.”
On the difficulties of raising kids…
“The challenge is making sure that they’re never treated different just because I sometimes am. I always want them to be regular kids who are grateful and respectful of other human beings. I want them to know that when we fly first-class, that they are lucky. The highest compliment I could ever receive about my kids—and I can say that this does happen frequently—is when the in-flight crew say to me, ‘Your children are wonderful. They are so well-behaved.’ Every time I am told that, I could weep.”
On what she thinks her life will be like in five years…
“I don’t want to know. As long as my kids are OK, I think it is really good for me not to have the answers.”
