Zooey Deschanel Says Some Actresses Are Too Skinny; Talks Dating Advice

The "New Girl' star sits down for the February issue of Glamour to share her thoughts on weight in Hollywood, working on TV and more. 

On the success of New Girl and making the jump from movies to television: "I’m just going where the material is. Some of the smartest people run the network I’m on. People sometimes say, ‘Oh, you were a movie star,’ and I’m like, ‘No, I was a supporting actress.’ I wasn’t an A-list actress, and I’m fine with that. I’m proud of what I did in film. But getting to do the stuff that I was passionate about was such an uphill battle. If New Girl had been a movie, I don’t know whether I would have been given the opportunity to do it."

On whether she considers her hair to be part of her "brand":  "This business is all about branding! But I’ve never been like, ‘Let’s calculate an image.’ I’m just, ‘I like that. Let’s do that.’ I grew up loving French New Wave movies, and so a lot of what I like is that style. It’s just about doing what you like so that when you look at yourself, you’re not disgusted. And I’m all about unintentional. I’m not a calculated person…. Somebody asked me, ‘How did you start doing comedy?’ and I was like, ‘By being unintentionally funny.’ I think making a movie or a record, the best things happen by accident—and those end up being the magic. Every time I’ve followed my gut it’s been better than when I’ve tried to do what I was supposed to do."

On being seen as an oddly controversial figure to some women and her critics: "I’m just being myself. There is not an ounce of me that believes any of that crap that they say. We can’t be feminine and be feminists and be successful? I want to be a f--king feminist and wear a f--king Peter Pan collar. So f--king what?"

On if she feels pressure to look a certain way:  "I don’t. But actresses have definitely gotten thinner over the course of my lifetime. Women I admired growing up— Debra Winger, Diane Keaton, Meryl Streep—were all beautiful and thin, but not too thin. There are a lot of actresses who are unhealthy-skinny—much, much too skinny. You can’t Pilates to that. I’m a very small person, and if I lost 15 pounds, I’d look like them; it’s scary. For young girls, what does that say? You need to look this way to be successful? That’s not true. You do not need to look or be anorexic to be successful in Hollywood. The range of what’s acceptable is larger than what people believe."

On if she gives dating advice to her friends: "I could answer that. It depends on the people. Everyone has to make some compromises. I think of my parents, who have been married for 40 years, and my grandparents, who were married for 69 years before my grandfather passed away. My dad is so sweet; he’s always like, ‘Your mom is a better cook than any restaurant.’ And I remember my grandfather looking at my grandmother, saying, ‘She’s the most beautiful woman in the world.’ You can’t get any better than that. But we live in a different time. I don’t get it when people just have the goal of meeting someone—then it’s only about the goal. I’ve never been a five-year planner."
 

Photos Courtesy of Glamour

Photographed by Ellen von Unwerth in Los Angeles