Although you’d never guess it based off her outspoken opinions on Twitter and flamboyant personality both on and offscreen, actress and singer Anna Kendrick hates confrontation. So much so that she’s consciously had to change the way her mind works over the last few years in order to refrain from this familiar situation: “In the shower, all I do is go back and say the things that I wish I had said.”
Kendrick went on to say in a recent interview with Elle: “I think I’m really terrible with confrontation. I’m either way too meek, or I explode and get really emotional. Then I feel like an idiot, because I should’ve kept my cool.”
She even admitted that playing her character Beca in Pitch Perfect 3 is “a little bit of wish fulfillment, because she definitely is very savvy and knows herself.” Funny how the rest of us could say the same thing about Kendrick herself. Especially after she recalled a story about dumping a boyfriend over a supposedly “crazy” reason that really boiled down to this: He didn’t respect her boundaries.
“I was dating a guy. He tickled me playfully, and I said, ‘I know that’s cute and that people do it, but I really don’t like being tickled. It really makes me feel trapped and panicked. I know it’s silly and funny for most people, but I really hate it, so could you please not?’ He thought that it was really dumb that I had a problem with being tickled and did it anyway.
I broke up with him. And I knew that in the retelling of that story, I would be some crazy girl. You never want to be labeled ‘the crazy girl’…. That he would tell his friends, ‘Oh, she broke up with me, because I tickled her. What a psycho.’ I just had to go, ‘No, I broke up with you because I told you something was important to me, and you didn’t respect that.'”
YOU GO GIRL!???
Kendrick also shared how in recent years she’s made it clear that communicating your emotions is critical. “I used to not do that, because I thought, ‘Those aren’t facts. I can’t make an argument based on my feelings.’ Then I realized that nobody can tell me how to feel about something,” she said. “Just because you think I shouldn’t be bothered by something doesn’t mean that I’m not bothered. If my feelings matter to you, then this is what needs to change.”
Just an important reminder that your feelings are valid and you should never be ashamed of sticking up for yourself and establishing your boundaries.