Actress Jennifer Lawrence spent years pushing left-wing policies, trashing Republicans, and smearing President Donald Trump. Now she says it is beginning to dawn on her that celebrities constantly spouting off about politics not only hurts the film industry, it is “ripping the country apart.”
Appearing on The Interview podcast sponsored by the New York Times, Lawrence said she is regretting her past attacks on Donald Trump and Republicans.
When the podcast host tried to steer the 35-year-old Mother star toward her thoughts on politics, the actress demurred.
“I don’t really know if I should. The first Trump administration was so wild and just how can we let this stand? I felt like I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off,” she said speaking to her previous political proclamations.
“But as we’ve learned, election after election, celebrities do not make a difference whatsoever on who people vote for. So, then what am I doing? I’m just sharing my opinion on something that’s going to add fuel to a fire that’s ripping the country apart. We are so divided,” she admitted.
She went on to say that she is beginning to lean away from talking about her political ideas.
“I think I’m in a complicated recalibration because I’m also an artist,” Lawrence told the podcast host. “With this temperature and the way things can turn out, I don’t want to start turning people off to films and to art that could change consciousness or change the world because they don’t like my political opinions. I want to protect my craft so that you can still get lost in what I’m doing. And if I can’t say something that’s going to speak to some kind of peace or lowering the temperature or some sort of solution, I don’t want to be a part of the problem. I don’t want to make the problem worse.”
She added that she has noticed that many other actors who constantly blabber on and on about politics have turned off a huge number of fans who might otherwise have watched their films and TV shows, but now won’t because the actor’s loud political opinions have angered so many fans.
“You watch these actors’ faces who have had incredible careers and made incredible contributions and then one half of the internet doesn’t want to see their face anymore. I get so upset for those people and it feels so wrong,” she explained.
Lawrence then insisted that she would rather that her work express political points.
“I try to express my politics through my work,” she said. “A lot of movies coming out from my production company are expressions of the political landscape and that’s how I feel like I can be helpful.”
Lawrence added that now she “regrets” speaking out so forcefully on politics, and also noted that the American people actually voted for Trump’s policies, so who is she to go on the attack.
“I regret everything I’ve ever done or said,” she said only half in jest. “The second [Trump] term feels different. Because he said what he was going to do. We knew what he did for four years. He was very clear. And that’s what we chose.”
Lawrence also admitted that in years past she was awkward and young and she is chagrined by how she conducted herself in public in her 20s.
“I’ve also grown up. And yeah, I’m a lot more nervous about whatever I say publicly,” she admitted. “I don’t want to give an interview that’s a bunch of sound bites and a word salad. I don’t think that’s interesting and it would feel so inauthentic and not like what I’m here to do. So I’m trying to strike that balance.”
Lawrence is appearing in the film Die My Love, which hits theaters on November 7. The film follows the story of a woman who slips into madness in an isolated house in Montana.
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