The November, 2014, Vanity Fair cover featuring Jennifer Lawrence
Jennifer Lawrence has come out swinging again, this time in favour of "boring" domesticated relationships.
In the November issue of Vanity Fair, the actress lashed out against hackers and websites involved in "The Fappening," which saw almost 200 private pictures of celebrities disseminated online. "It is not a scandal. It is a sex crime," she told the magazine's Sam Kashner. (While Lawrence's reaction was universally lauded, some did voice feeling conflicted about Vanity Fair's capitalizing spread, complete with bobbing breasts, lips parted, a mysterious cockatoo and the headline "Both Huntress and Prey." Others pointed out that this situation was entirely consensual, and the photoshoot done a month before the Aug. 31 hacking.)
In the same interview, Lawrence also came to the defence of humdrum relationships. "Isn't boring so much better than passion?" asked Lawrence, who has also sung the praises of Everyman foodstuffs like Doritos and Slim Jims.
The actress said she favoured "peaceful" liaisons with non-argumentative partners over "big, passionate love." An ideal boyfriend would have the same taste in reality TV shows and, as the Oscar winner put it, wouldn't be "afraid to fart in front of me."
"Basically, what I'm saying is all I need in a relationship is somebody to watch TV with me," she told Kashner.
Most long-term unions go this way, a slow slide into sweatpants, HBO marathons and unchecked flatulence. What's different here is a woman actively aspiring to lowered expectations from the get-go.
Lawrence has been recently linked to Coldplay's Chris Martin, who is freshly "uncoupled" from Gwyneth Paltrow. Prior to that, she dated English actor Nicholas Hoult. Lawrence alluded to Hoult as she discussed her nude selfies with Vanity Fair: "I don't have anything to say I'm sorry for. I was in a loving, healthy, great relationship for four years. It was long distance, and either your boyfriend is going to look at porn or he's going to look at you."
It was this last line that irked some readers, even if it was uttered by a Hollywood darling. Some called Lawrence out for this naive ultimatum (mind you, she's just 24): "Let's be real," wrote one reader at Jezebel. "I just think it's weird to demand or expect someone to only masturbate to your picture."
As for whether a young man won't ever glance at porn if you send him a steady stream of nude self-portraits? He'll likely do both, JLaw, and you're free to do the same. In between watching Real Housewives together.
Zosia Bielski