Anna Faris: the notion of best friends in general is messed up
Anna Faris is doing her best to move on after she and husband Chris Pratt announced their separation last month. She has kept a low profile, rarely being seen in public since the split, but she has continued her weekly relationship advice podcast, Unqualified. The cast shares the title of her upcoming book, full title: Anna Farris is Unqualified, which will be released on October 24.
In the new tome, marketed as a combination memoir and self-help book, Anna shares personal, humorous stories from her life. And, in the “awk-ward” department, Chris wrote the forward. An excerpt from Unqualified was adapted for the October issue of Cosmopolitan. In the magazine’s “On My Mind” column, Anna shares tales of the mean girls who harassed her in her youth and why it’s hard to forge friendships with women. Here are some highlights from the article:
On Chris Pratt:
“I was once told that I didn’t need a tight group of girlfriends because Chris should be my best friend. But I never bought that. The idea of your mate being your best friend – that’s overhyped.”
On her relationships with men:
“I was selling my own gender down the river, and I wasn’t even getting fulfillment from the relationships with those dudes.”
On why it took her so long to realize the importance of female friendships:
“Growing up, I fell victim to plenty of mean girls who would sneak up on me and snap my bra strap. It may sound like a small thing, but when you’re a quiet teenager trying to get through high school unnoticed, that kind of unwanted attention is rough.”
On what it takes to develop genuine female relationships:
“It takes vulnerability of spirit to open yourself up to other women in a way that isn’t competitive, and that’s especially hard in Hollywood, where competition is built into almost every interaction.”
On the notion of a “best friend”:
“I think the notion of best friends in general is messed up though. It puts so much pressure on any one person, when I truly believe it’s okay to have intimacy with different people in different ways.”
I am not a movie star, I’ve never been married to a movie star (you had your chance, Jon Hamm), but I can totally relate to Anna’s plight. I dealt with my share of mean girls growing up, and I have always had considerably more male friends than female friends. I find that in my 40s, it’s impossible to make friends with women (co-workers excluded) – especially because I’m single and have no kids. Of course, I spend more time with my significant other than anyone else right now, so he kind of is my best friend, so on that point, I can slightly disagree with what Anna said.
Since the split, the 40-year-old actress, soon to return to the small screen for the fifth season of her CBS sitcom Mom, has a slight case of cold feet in advance of the release of her book, since it includes such intimate details of her life. She talked about it on the latest episode of her podcast on Tuesday, admitting, “I feel really, really nervous because it feels intimate.” She added, “I’m excited and when I first got the book deal, I thought, ‘What a great adventure this is going to be,’ and now that it’s getting closer, I feel nervous in a sense that I’ve been able to always hide behind characters. And now it’s like, this is me. It feels a little scary.”
Later on in the episode, she told listeners, “I would love it so much if you picked up my book, but please know, I am so scared. I feel like leaving the country for a little while. I’m breaking into a sweat.” She went on to add, jokingly, “It definitely confirms that I have no idea what the f**k I’m talking about.”
I don’t know about you, but I kind of want to read the book now, especially because Anna said that she once was “a really quiet kid with headgear.” I was too, but she ended up a movie star and I write copy for an insurance company and gossip blog. Oh, well… I’m not surprised that she’s able to speak kind of candidly about her current situation – I can only imagine it’s rather therapeutic. Way to hang in there, lady.
Photos: Getty Images, WENN.com
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