"A Drink with chicago" intervju med Nikki Reed
After spending so much time filming “The Twilight Saga” films, do you ever find yourself channeling your character Rosalie in real life?
The only time where that does happen is when we’re all sort of together in a group setting and when people start picking on Rosalie. I feel really defensive of her … I always wondered why people have always sort of talked about who’s friends with who and who has friction with who and then I realized it’s because that is what our characters are doing, you know what I mean? They don’t even know they are doing it but they assume it’s the same dynamic. It’s just kind of bizarre but it’s actually really fascinating.
You always hear stories of what it’s like as a ‘struggling actor’, so what’d you do with your first “Twilight” paycheck? Did you feel a little bit like, ‘I’ve made it!’?
I’ve always been a struggling actress and trust me I am fully aware that after “Twilight”, I’m so aware how fast this is going to go away. You know, I just don’t take any of it for granted. One small chunk of money isn’t going to last you a lifetime. I’ve tried to be smart with my money so the first thing I did was I invested in income property. Then, I did buy a home and I bought my mom a home. My dad was like, ‘At the end of the day, if you have nowhere to live because you’re super poor, if you have invested in some income property you might be okay.’ [Laughs] So that’s what I’ve done.
Last year you married Paul McDonald, who many people know from “American Idol”. How’s newlywed life so far?
As you can see Paul is here and it goes both ways, by the way. People think that he just travels with me wherever I go but they don’t realize that when he was on tour I went to 33 cities out of 50 when he was performing. So it really goes both ways and I think it’s important to make the other person your number one priority.
How did you know he was the one?
I just knew! [Smiles]
So it was love at first sight?
Yeah! Well, I didn’t know the second I met him but I knew within a couple days for sure. My mom is kind of a hopeless romantic and even though her and my father divorced when I was two she totally believes—because of her grandparents and parents—that when you marry, it stays strong forever. So she always hated that I would say I’m never getting married or that I’m never going to have kids. [Laughs] I’m sure some of it came from my upbringing and seeing my own parents get divorced and my anger about it but as soon as I met Paul I said, ‘I think I’m going to marry him’ and she was like, ‘What!? Has he asked you!?’ and I said, ‘No, but I just think I am.’ [Laughs]
What’s your one guilty pleasure?
Oh God, horrible TV! And it’s a new one. I didn’t grow up with a TV so I didn’t grow up watching cartoons, let alone trash. Paul and I have really got into “Dance Moms”. The other day Paul was out and he saw one of the dance moms without me and he had to call me about it and confess. [Laughs]
Being a celeb yourself, do you ever read any of the celebrity tabloids?
I used to have a rule that I would only do it if I was at the airport because it’s like, ‘Well, I’m here and I have 40 minutes before my flight so I’ll just stand at the kiosk and read’. Now I’m at the airport seven days a week, I’m always there! [Laughs] So I don’t think that’s a good excuse anymore; I’ve tried to slow down actually because the more cognizant you are about what is actually going on in the celebrity world the more it’s not really entertaining anymore because you flip through and say, ‘I know that’s not happening! And that’s not true!’
How do you stay fit?
We’re very active. I quit smoking three years ago on July 5th and it’s something I’ve been extremely vocal about because I feel like it was my greatest accomplishment. I was a really heavy smoker my whole life since I was 12-years-old. I wasn’t active at all because of it. I was a gymnast when I was much younger but I spent most of my years, when you’re supposed to be really active and doing stuff, not active at all. I didn’t realize it until I was older but it really did affect my whole physique, so the last three years I’ve been incredibly active. Paul and I switch it up but we do it all together. We hike with our dogs, we do pilates, we do SoulCycle… I try to cook for both of us and when I can’t cook my mom actually cooks because she lives in our guest house, so I believe strongly in homemade food.
Do you have a favorite meal you like to make?
Last night, before we came here, I cooked brown rice and lentils and I sautéed onions and put in soy sauce and some bell peppers and shredded carrots… My mom and I were attempting to cook a lentil loaf and that didn’t happen so it became a stir-fry. [Laughs]
When you’re out like tonight at Studio Paris for the Samsung Mobile USA Galaxy S III Customer Appreciation Event, what’s your cocktail of choice?
I’m not really a drinker. If I do have something I’ll have a sip or two of beer. It’s weird because I’ve played so many very promiscuous party animal characters and people, once again, really do subconsciously connect you with that because you do it in movies. So I hadn’t really spoken that much about it but I started to recently because I got a little frustrated. I’ve never been a drinker my whole life.
If you could have a drink with anyone who would it be?
Just in light of what just happened I would say Nora Ephron. So many of the women I know, that are still here, that I really look up to and that I really connect with have had such a strong connection with that woman. I just feel like at a certain point in life that would have been such an honor [to connect with her] and something that probably—well, who knows but—could have happened. She’s mentored a lot of women that have mentored me.
// Prietha
