Actress Jennifer Lawrence has spent years promoting left-wing policies, attacking Republicans and criticizing President Donald Trump. Now she says she’s starting to realize that celebrities who constantly talk about politics are not only hurting the film industry but also “tearing the country apart.”
Appearing on the New York Times-sponsored podcast “The Interview,” Lawrence said she regrets her past attacks on Donald Trump and Republicans.
When the podcast host tried to get the 35-year-old “Mother” star to weigh in on her thoughts on politics, the actress hesitated.
“I really don’t know if I should. The first Trump administration was so wild, and how can we let this happen? I felt like I was running around like a chicken with its head cut off,” she said of her past political pronouncements.
“But as we’ve learned, election after election, celebrities make no difference at all in who people vote for. So what do I do? I’m just sharing my opinion on something that will add fuel to the fire that’s tearing the country apart. We’re so divided,” she admitted.
She went on to say that she’s starting to move away from talking about her political views.
“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 go, I don’t want to start turning people away from movies and art that could change consciousness or change the world because they don’t like my political views. I want to protect my craft so that you can still get lost in what I do. And if I can’t say something that’s going to speak to some kind of peace or a decrease in temperature or some kind of solution, I don’t want to be part of the problem. I don’t want to make the problem worse.”
She added that she’s noticed that a lot of other actors who constantly talk about politics are turning away huge numbers of fans who might otherwise watch their movies and TV shows, but now won’t because the actor’s outspoken political views have angered so many fans.
“You see the faces of these actors who have had incredible careers and made incredible contributions, and then half the internet doesn’t want to see their faces anymore. I feel so bad for those people and it feels so wrong,” she explained.
Lawrence then insisted that she wanted her work to make political points.
“I try to express my politics through my work,” she said. “A lot of the films that come out of my production company are an expression of the political landscape, and I feel like I can be useful in that way.”
Lawrence added that she now “regrets” being so vocal about politics, noting that the American people actually voted for Trump’s policies, so who is she to attack?
“I regret everything I’ve done or said,” she said, only half-jokingly. “[Trump’s] second term feels different. Because he said what he was going to do. We knew what he was doing for four years. He was very clear. And that’s what we elected him to do.”
Lawrence also admitted that she was clumsy and young in years past and is disappointed with how she behaved in public in her 20s.
“I’ve also grown up. And yes, I’m a lot more nervous about anything I say in public,” she admitted. “I don’t want to do an interview that’s made up of phrases and words. I don’t think that’s interesting and it would come across as so inauthentic and it’s not what I’m here to do. So I try to strike that balance.”
Lawrence appears in the film “Die My Love,” which opens in theaters on November 7. The film follows the story of a woman who descends into madness in an isolated house in Montana.