Evan Rachel Wood covers the latest issue of The Edit. She’s really giving me strong Robin Wright vibes here. It’s not just the haircut (although the two women have very similar hairstyles), but facially, they are very similar. ERW even played Robin’s daughter in the completely underrated The Conspirator and the casting was simply perfect (plus, James McAvoy was wonderful in that film too). Anyway, Evan hasn’t done much press lately, partly because she hasn’t had many big projects to promote and partly because she really doesn’t want to talk about herself. She’s barely had one public word to say since she split with Jamie Bell last year. In this interview, she gives up quotes about Jamie, her thing with Marilyn Manson and more. But we still don’t know her son’s name! Isn’t that crazy?
Turning 28: “I turn 28 in a couple of weeks and I can’t wait! I love getting older. I feel like your twenties are such a s**t show, I just want to get to 30 and say, ‘I made it!’”
Becoming an actress in her teens: “I was very shy and insecure. I was expected to handle myself like an adult, but I didn’t have the tools. All I knew was how to be an actor and work a red carpet. I didn’t know what I wanted or who I was outside of the industry. You start thinking, ‘Do people even like me as a person?’ [My parents] didn’t want anything bad to happen, so they held on tight – so tight that I couldn’t breathe. And I pushed away really hard. I was like, ‘Wait a minute, I didn’t get to be a teenager and make mistakes!’ I felt I’d been cheated.”
Her relationship with Marilyn Manson: “I thought I was in love. I wasn’t doing it to prove a point or be rebellious. I wanted to break a mold for sure – I knew I was edgier, more alternative, and weird. And he was just what I needed, because I felt really free with him. And that freedom was attractive.”
The backlash she got for “homewrecking” his marriage to Dita Von Teese: “People were cruel. You build immunity to that sort of thing, but I wasn’t used to negative feedback, so it got to me. Then I got angry, and pushed away even more. I wouldn’t trade any of [our relationship]. I appreciate everything he taught me. I just don’t think we were right for each other.”
Her bisexuality: “I knew it was part of me, but I hadn’t allowed myself to explore it. I didn’t realize how crippling it was until I finally opened that door and went, ‘Wow!’”
Giving birth to her son by candlelight: “It was a psychedelic experience. I felt like I was hitting every corner of the room. Everything was vibrating.”
She still loves her ex-husband Jamie Bell: “Jamie’s lovely. He was the love of my life.”
Her plans for the future: “Life doesn’t give a s**t about your plans… I don’t want to have another baby, but my little sister is adopted, and I was hoping that one day I could do that…”
Evan has always said variations on the “Marilyn was a great teacher” thing post-split. She was 19 years old when they got together and he was 36. Of course he was “teaching” her about life. She was a sheltered child actress and it was obvious she thought he was, like, the coolest person in the world (he is not and he never was). As for Evan giving birth by candlelight… hippie nonsense. At least she has nice things to say about Jamie. I still have hope that they’ll get back together at some point.
Photos courtesy of The Edit.
I really want her and Jamie to get back togehetr too! I was devastated when they split.
On a superficial note, she’s breathtakingly gorgeous. In “True Blood” and “Mildred Pierce” I cpouldn’t take my eyes off her.
The red hair on True Blood really made the color of her eyes pop. She was stunning.
Wasn’t she? She and her character were the best part of that show.
Yes – I’ve always thought she was really beautiful, but the red hair was so striking.
I often love her style too, especially red carpet. I still covet the green Elie Saab she wore a few years ago.
Why do people lament her relationship with Bell? I think she discovered she was gay (bi sounds better to casting directors and in media) and that was that. They were done. Its like people who want Stewart to get back with Pattinson. Makes no sense.
I figured she was gay a long time ago when she hooked up with Manson (yea riiiight, she had such great passion for him…guffaw) to begin with and then weirdly started impersonating Dita Von Teese. It was like she waa in love/obsession with Dita, not Manson.
Also another clue was when she was outting Mikey Cyrus as gay, before Miley was even thinking about coming out as gay or bi. I thought it odd she would go there and here she’s a married woman with a kid. I was like, uh hey lady, why are you invested in Cyrus’ sexual orientation? Now we know why.
* (By the way, off topic: heard Miley was hitting on kstew…called her hot…they asked stewart about it, she seemed stoked…now there’s a new power couple, lol)
She’s BISEXUAL. It’s a real thing. That’s all, good day to you.
Sounds like Evan and LeAnn Rimes would have a lot to talk about if they ever hooked up. They could both lament their lost childhoods and teen years, talk about their homewrecking pasts and their obsessions with the ex-wives, and then maybe ditch men for good for each other. A match made in — uh — heaven? LOL
Biphobic much?
I thought The Conspirator was a good movie too. Overlooked because for some reason, nobody pays attention to serious films released in the spring but the cast was great, the story interesting and well-acted.
She’s right that life doesn’t care about our plans. Life happens; it doesn’t care what she wants.
I need that dress she’s wearing.
If she doesn’t mess with her face, she’ll still be gorgeous in 30 years. She has wonderful bone structure.
I love Dita, and I used to love that weird couple she formed with Marilyn Manson.
And seriously she wore a hell of a wedding gown.
MM was a mess (Dita talked about his drug abuses) and cheating probably was the end of a long series of messes, so I tend to not blame ERW so hard. BUT I remember clearly how at a certain point he tried to morph her into Dita. She started dressing like his “boyfriend” first wife.
That was creepy.
I don’t know what his ‘boyfriend first wife’ means but I agree, that was creepy and I would think she would be embarrassed, if she realises what he was doing to her. ‘Teaching’ my ass.
I loved what she said about the 20s. Of course I don’t think this decade is shit (I’m still on it), but society worships youth, and this “teenage year and 20s are the best time of your life” shit only makes you build false expectations.
I agree with you. It’s a tough period when you still have to deal with a lot of insecurities, but after it’s better, and I get it now at the (proud) age of 34. I am more confident in my skin, this summer I was sunbathing at the pool and I didn’t give a crap about not being perfect, about my cellulite (thanks mum) and I thought how many times in my ’20s (I was stupid) I didn’t enjoy a day at the pool or at the sea because I was uncomfortable.
Exactly. I still need to check if there’s no one around if I decide to go to the pool. Hopefully I’ll reach my confidence along the way.
I wish I had the confidence of my late twenties in my early twenties and teen years. It is so liberating to be free of the drama and constant “trying to be whatever is expected of you” BS.
I agree. I fully look forward to my 30s. My 20s has been nothing but stress, doubt, and disappointment. I’m in my late 20s and have only come to embrace a lot of things in life.
I really hope that’s true, because I’m 22 and have never felt this awful, this insecure and this anxious.
It gets better Franca!! Keep your chin up 🙂
My late teens and all through my 20s were horrendous. I had a lot of problems (depression, anxiety and insomnia) that manifested at that time and I spent that entire chapter of my life trying to come to terms with them. I envy people who had a ‘carefree’ youth, but for me it truly was a sh!t show.
It definitely does get better Hang in there.
Honestly, I thought it was Kristen Stewart in the pic. I had to re-read the title of the post.
Never heard of giving birth by candle light. Is it some pseudo-spiritual/vibes thing?
Weird, I could almost visualize the room vibrating, like a horror movie with a happy ending.
I thought it was Alexander Skarsgard doing the drag thing again.
Sounds like utter nonsense.
Actually, keeping the lights very low during labor is a great way for a woman to stay out of her prefrontal cortex and relax into her body so that labor can progress. One of the challenges of laboring in hospitals is that with all the fluorescent lights and people entering the room, interrupting and talking to a woman (sometimes during her contractions) she stays in the part of her brain that navigates rational decision making, proper social behavior and a whole host of other things that do NOT help get the baby out.
Just calling it hippie nonsense is dismissive and minimizes a complex process.
Check out the work of Ina May Gaskin who could probably be described as having a “hippie” -like lifestyle but also has a much better maternal and infant survival rate than many hospitals.
Interesting. Thanks for the info, Yup Me 🙂
Yes, thank you!
I didnt’ even recognize her. For some reason she looks so different to me in these pictures…I will say, that I felt my best in my thirties! More confident, smarter about life….my twenties were “$hit” too!
Good for her that she’s not trashing him, or Jamie for that matter. As a Manson fangirl since I was a pre-teen, I kind of loved them together at the time, but he seems like a difficult person to be in a relationship with. His dating M.O. of picking out random young girls he finds attractive, tracking them down and convincing them to meet up for some kind of creative collaboration is kinda creepy as well.
Ewww, Manson collects Nazi memorabilia and skeletons of children. Why would anybody in their right mind want to be associated with him?
I feel like she loved Jamie, but was in love with Marilyn Manson.
Jamie baby, come let INAN help you feel better!
I agree. When she was with MM she seemed completely head over heels and with Jamie he always seemed more into her than she was into him. Hell, she seemed more into Kate Moennig than she was into Jamie and they were only together a couple of months.
At first glance, I thought the picture was of Kristen Stewart. They have similar hairstyles and facial features.
I see Kristen Stewart too. A little Katherine Moennig too.
Love her. I love how strong that cover is.
And yeah her son has never been seen and we don’t know his name so it is possible to keep things private. I know she’s not ‘that’ famous, but even the most d-list celebs complain about privacy surrounding their kids. It’s bs.
Telling that she does not even mention the hurt she caused to Dita.
Why would she? Lol
She was a teenager!
Even if she was legal, he was predatory and disgusting.
I hope Jamie doesn’t take her back. She always seems perpetually unsatisfied with her life.
She is so pretentious, Jamie without ERW is a much likeable person.
Hey! Don’t call birth by candle “hippie nonsense”!!! As a doula I have to say that type of birth experience is so on point. All birth is beautiful. But watching and interacting with a mama who has decided to home birth without medication is a profound testament to the ability of a woman’s power and strength, and how mind over matter really works. The control over their bodies and the resilience to breathe through such pain is inspiring. It’s so vastly different than the experience in the hospitals.
I have to give her credit for that at least!!
My baby was born with an undetected life threatening heart defect. If we weren’t in a hospital she might not have made it. Hospitals 4eva!
Plus I loved my epidural with my 9lb 13oz second baby. : )
But to each their own.
Yeah, to each their own, but hospitals FTW.
Home births are rare in my country, apart from my grandma, I don’t know anyone who was born at home.
I was going to say the same thing. Home birth and being able to do things like have a candle lit birth are really beautiful things, not hippie nonsense. To say so sounds really dated and silly. Midwives and doulas are trained professionals who support natural child birth for those who desire it and for whom it is safe. Find your local midwife and ask her questions! Educate yourself! It’s a cool birth option.
It actually seems fascinating, I just can’t stop picturing the scene in my head.
Huzzah! Fellow doula, here. I just commented similarly above.
I’m all in support of women making the best choices for themselves and their families but societal dismissal of a valid (and, for most women, perfect healthy) option means that many don’t go into the experience making an informed decision, and that is unfortunate.
Plus- labor and delivery is nothing like the a** kicking parenting can bring. Any chance for a woman to feel powerful as a parent should be celebrated.
Also a doula! I wish all people could just let moms birth & parent the way they want to. If more normalized natural births were talked about and portrayed in the media, women would take back a lot more medical, emotional, & spiritual power.
OOF she looks SO SO gorgeous!
She really is!
Loves getting older? Girl, come back and talk to me when you hit menopause!
Seriously. I feel like 20-something actresses who say that are making it up anyway. They’re far too insecure for that airy fairy stuff.
Jamie Bell deserves better.
I think she and Jamie will get back together.
She looks ah-ma-zing!
I think se sounds unpretentious and smart, and I have a lot of respect for people who choose to see the good in their exes instead of trashing them publicly. I see it as a testament of emotional intelligence.
I often forget she was a child actor, and I think this is the first I’ve heard her talk about her parents being strict. In that context, the weird relationship with MM makes some sense.
“People were cruel. You build immunity to that sort of thing, but I wasn’t used to negative feedback, so it got to me.”
This. So many actresses can’t deal with ANY negative feedback. It’s so foreign to them that they freak out when they encounter it. We see that on Twitter all the time. They become defensive, they lash out, they melt down, and won’t accept any negative feedback. I’m glad she’s honest about this and recognizes that they are so fawned over from a young age and it cripples them. Regular people deal with negative feedback all the time. it’s part of life. She sounds mature here and I hope she’s able to deal with it.
I love what she says about her bisexuality. I feel exactly the same about it.
What’s with the adulation?
She isn’t breath taking gorgeous. Pretty girl with ok things to say–a little pretentious but expected of an actress of her type.
Frankly any actor that describes themselves as ” edgier, more alternative, and weird” makes me roll my eyes.
Thank you. (Re “edgier”) …she’s not even self aware enough to realize that just by saying that, she outs herself as the furthest thing from it, and the Manson relationship as a pretense. It was obvious to most that’s what she was doing, especially when she morphed into a carbon copy of Dita, with the 40s glam vampy dressing. It was like, get a mind of your own little girl. But she was confused. I think ERW used Manson to escape her sexuality.
I think giving birth by candlelight is irresponsible. I was there with my aunt for her first baby all through the pregnancy and birth. She was super healthy. Everything was fine until her water broke and than it was an instant medical nightmare. I had done the Bradley classes with her and she wanted a natural birth like her mother had done 5 times before her with no problems. My aunt suffered so much needlessly. After the first 24 hours of straight labor in the hospital I went to the doctor/nurses and said drug her and do what needs to be done.
I am forever grateful for the hospital and staff that saved my aunts life and her baby. At home birth both would have died.
I’m sorry that your aunt experienced that, but as a doula who supports all women’s birth choices, there is nothing inherently irresponsible about candlelight. The “my baby would have died” stories are also often really misleading, because all too often it’s unnecessary medical interventions that end up causing birth emergencies in the first place. We never know what might have been, and each mom makes the best choices for themselves at that time.
I was a very unconfident teen because I didn’t fit a mould my town was full of blonde skinny beach babes and here I was with neon hair colours and as some said a unique beauty (still don’t see it) but I cannot imagine how hard ERW had it pretty much growing up in the spotlight! She has faired well compared to other young actresses that started as kids! Such a beautiful woman and lovely to see she doesn’t appear to have gone under the knife!
I’m still squicked out by that video she did with MM where they appear to actually be having sex. Ick.
Agree 100% with Kaiser’s summary. Never cool ex and hippy dippy rituals.