Zooey Deschanel, 36: Ive never really felt like an adult before motherhood
Ever since Zooey Deschanel got with her current husband Jacob Pechenik, I’ve been hoping that Zooey would sort of abandon the twee. I convinced myself that she had matured a bit, and then she named her daughter Elsie Otter and all bets were off. Peak Twee had been achieved. So it’s strange to see Zooey on the cover of Redbook, a magazine which usually veers more towards the Jennifer Garner demographic rather than moms-who-name-their-kids-Otter. Zooey’s promoting New Girl, but mostly she just talks about her baby and how her life has changed with motherhood.
How her little girl, Elsie Otter made her grow up…sorta: “I’ve never really felt like an adult. But I think it’s a huge accomplishment to have a child, so maybe I feel like an adult for that reason!”
On the importance of women supporting other women: “Growing up, girls get all of these cues that you’re not supposed to be aggressive. You can’t be bossy. If you’re assertive, you’re bitchy. There are a lot of negative things that are said about women who are powerful, and I think that it makes for a climate where women end up being inadvertently passive-aggressive toward one another, and sometimes trying to pull each other down.”
Slowing down post-baby: “I’ve slowed things down a bit. I think it’s good for your whole self— your creative self, your professional self, and just your soul— to take a little time for yourself and your family. You can spend your whole life going after things, but I think you risk missing out on some really powerful self-reflection.
The expectations for the post-baby body: “To expect someone to look like her pre-baby self immediately is odd. Because you just grew a human and then birthed that human—there’s a lot that needs to go back to where it was. All your organs move around, for chrissakes!”
“I’ve never really felt like an adult.” Yeah, and that bugs. She’s 36 years old! But I do think she’s probably, hopefully matured with motherhood, Otter-naming withstanding. I don’t have a problem with “I think it’s a huge accomplishment to have a child,” because I think it is an accomplishment. Maybe that’s a strange word to use, but the gestation, the birth, the fact that you’re bringing another life into the world, that IS an accomplishment (just one I want no part of). I also don’t have a problem with what she says about post-baby bodies and lady-on-lady hate.
Photos courtesy of Yu Tsai/Redbook.
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