Eiza Gonzalez was a guest on Kimmel right before he stopped having studio audiences and I’m just listening to it now, sorry about that. She was really charismatic and interesting, I’ve only seen one of her other interviews before and I was impressed. She brought her mom with her and told a cute story about how the TSA agent recognized her from her last appearance on Kimmel. (She’s from Mexico and has to get specially interviewed even though she has a green card.) Then she talked about her 30th birthday and how birthdays feel selfish to her.
I hate birthdays. I feel like it’s the most narcissistic thing we’ve ever invented. You force all your friends to come, bring you gifts, pay things to you and be like “pretend like you love me and sing to me, because that’s what my birthday’s for, for everyone to kiss my butt,” I just hate it and then I was turning 30, which is a big number for a girl. You get nervous because you’re like ‘I won’t get away with anything anymore,’ but also the day I turn 30 ‘I’m a woman.’ I felt very secure about myself.
I said I’m going to have a very tame, very easy birthday. I was just going to do a little thing at the bar and then go to the Super Bowl. I love football.
[We had so many shots at the bar] someone threw up on my cake. [It was like] “The Hangover.” It ended up being a big blur of four days completely drunk. In Miami it gets crazy.
Hopefully she’s exaggerating about not remembering large parts of her birthday weekend. The time when we could go out partying seems so long ago. She also told a story about seeing what a Chief’s superfan that Paul Rudd was and deciding to root for them at the Super Bowl. Paul’s son got so excited when Kansas City won the Super Bowl that he had a nosebleed. She went to a Super Bowl after party at a strip club and said she made friends with a stripper who was giving a lapdance next to her. She had such a good conversation with her that they exchanged numbers.
As for finding birthdays narcissistic, I’m sort of like this in that I don’t like people throwing parties for me. I do like to go out and celebrate with my friends though. I just had a birthday on March 13th, which blows my mind! It was only a week and a half ago, but it feels like months. Kaiser sent me flowers which was so nice! Of course I stayed home as I’ve been having mild symptoms and don’t want to spread what I have. I asked my friends to video chat me and a few did and it was really nice. People should video chat more, it’s better than just talking on the phone. (Try Zoom it’s free and so easy to use.) Plus it gives me motivation to shower and get ready every day honestly. If I know I have a video date I’ll get dressed.
Here’s Eiza’s interview!
I like her style!
photos credit: Backgrid and Avalon.red
” “You force all your friends to come, bring you gifts, pay things to you and be like “pretend like you love me …” ”
Uh… don’t our friends already like us and want to be with us and are happy for us? They don’t need to be forced?
This was a really sad thing to read. What kind of friendships does she have?
I kind of agree with her. I don’t really like birthdays and I don’t think there is a thing where people are “forced” to do anything, but some people really do feel an obligation. Like, I like to try to get together with people for my birthday, but when I say it’s for that, the dynamic shifts in a way that I would rather it didn’t. Some people will get a gift or a card, even if you ask not to, and that makes other people feel like they should have. It’s just sort of a landmine, to me. But I have an incredible amount of social anxiety and I don’t like feeling like the center of attention
I actually feel pretty much the same way, and have always really wanted my birthday to fly under the radar as much as possible. It has nothing to do with the quality of my friendships, it’s just that I hate to be the center of attention, and I especially feel bad about people feeling obligated to buy me stuff.
I get that some people really like to buy their friends gifts and to celebrate them. So of course I never want to seem ungrateful. It’s complicated, I guess, lol, which is maybe why she didn’t articulate it very well.
Also, ever since I had kids, I feel like birthdays should be about the mom, lol! I am much happier to celebrate my kids’ entries into the world than my own.
I kinda read that as hyperbole. I’m sure her friends love her and like spending time with her:)
Yes, it was obviously meant to be a joke
🙄
Right? If you think birthdays are narcissistic, then you’re probably narcissistic when your birthday rolls around lol.
The way I view birthdays is like this: you are another year older, which means that you get another hopefully 365 days to make a positive impact to other people, make new memories and be better than you were last year.
Doesn’t matter if you have a bday bash or lay low at home, just know you touched the lives of so many people since you came into the world.
Haha. How appropriate that this was posted on my birthday. I tend to agree though. I haven’t thrown myself a party, though I do enjoy going out to eat. Not this year of course. I did buy a bottle of Veuve Cliquot, my other newer tradition.
I hope you have a happy birthday! Take good care of yourself. 🎂🥂 <– There's supposed to be a birthday cake and toasting wine glass emojis there. Lol but on this phone I have no idea what may show up!
All the best to you!
Happy Birthday, bday twin. Hope it’s wonderful 🍾🥂🎁🎉
I feel the same. I really don’t understand why a grown adult would want or need to be the centre of attention for a birthday.
Most of my friends except old friends from elementary school don’t even know when my birthday is.
I don’t have it listed on FB or any social media.
Same. I havent celebrated a single birthday since i was .. 12 maybe? I don’t see the point of celebrating that death is coming closer 😀 and she has a point, it is a bit narcissistic too.
To some extent, I think birthdays become less important to me with age, but on the other hand, they are a celebration of life. I keep in mind not everybody is so fortunate to get a lot of that or even just had the experience of being wanted as a child.
I love birthdays, my own and those of others. I don’t think it’s narcissistic to have one day a year to celebrate someone you care about or be celebrated.
On another note- what is that red dress made of? It looks like a red version of the bubble wrap bags Glossier sends out with each order.
Yeah, I love my and others’ birthdays. I think everyone should do what suits them and not judge the other side. It’s annoying how people argue about personal preferences and opinions nowadays. If you feel like birthdays are narcissistic, don’t celebrate your birthday. You don’t call me a narcissist and I won’t call you a cranky killjoy. Everybody cool? 😊
I could be wrong but I thought in the Netherlands the tradition is that you pay for everyone else on your birthday. And then the tradition continues with your friends paying for you on their birthday. My friend jokes they don’t call it “going Dutch” for nothing but also it feels more joyful to me in a weird way – there is a community element as well as a celebration of the individual.
In our family once past the age of 18 we generally only celebrate milestone birthdays and annual birthdays of elders over 70. It gives a good excuse for grandparents and great aunts and uncles to see all the children in the extended family.
I think it’s hilarious that birthdays are “narcissistic,” from someone who’s almost unrecognizable after extensive plastic surgery.
Call me narcissistic but my birthday is the most important day of my year. No parties needed. I just want to spend the day with my family. Taking walks, eating out, all low key stuff. I’m grateful to have survived and enjoyed another year of life.
I absolutely agree, I think birthdays have blown up into Bridezilla levels of crazy. Even friends I know with babies turn it into a big expensive shebang and then wonder why kids grow up thinking the world revolves around them.
I bake my kids a cake, have ice cream and they choose dinner. Even doing that I feel is over the top. I encourage them to reflect on how they want to proceed in life. However, They are late teens and twenty somethings, and love the attention. One celebrates for a week, encouraging her friends to give her gifts and take her places. Honestly!!
I have not enjoyed celebrating my birthday with others since I was about 15. I used to ask my parents not to celebrate but they did, so I cried and suffered through those “happy” birthdays.
Since I turned 40 I warn everyone that I’ll take a few days off to go somewhere to meditate and reflect. I turn off my phone and try to take an inventory of my life. I leave my husband and kids behind and when I return I feel recharged.
I love celebrating! I think we should make fuss of making it another year. Yeah, I’m one of those. Also Eiza is gorgeous and her body is killer.