Jennifer Lawrence is gearing up for the release of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 next month and to celebrate, she covers the November issue of Vanity Fair.
In the issue, Jennifer speaks out for the first time about the photo leak that had everyone talking last month. She had actually done the cover shoot and interview before the news broke at the end of August, so VF conducted a follow up to allow JLaw to speak out. “I was just so afraid. I didn’t know how this would affect my career. Just because I’m a public figure, just because I’m an actress, does not mean that I asked for this,” she says. “It does not mean that it comes with the territory. It’s my body, and it should be my choice, and the fact that it is not my choice is absolutely disgusting. I can’t believe that we even live in that kind of world.”
So why hasn’t Jennifer spoken out before this? She said that she did think of writing a statement but “every single thing that I tried to write made me cry or get angry. I started to write an apology, but 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.”
She continued, “It is not a scandal. It is a sex crime. It is a sexual violation. It’s disgusting. The law needs to be changed, and we need to change. That’s why these Web sites are responsible. Just the fact that somebody can be sexually exploited and violated, and the first thought that crosses somebody’s mind is to make a profit from it. It’s so beyond me. I just can’t imagine being that detached from humanity. I can’t imagine being that thoughtless and careless and so empty inside.”
“Anybody who looked at those pictures, you’re perpetuating a sexual offense. You should cower with shame. Even people who I know and love say, ‘Oh, yeah, I looked at the pictures.’ I don’t want to get mad, but at the same time I’m thinking, I didn’t tell you that you could look at my naked body.”
Lawrence also shares a message for the tabloid community: “You have a choice. You don’t have to be a person who spreads negativity and lies for a living. You can do something good. You can be good. Let’s just make that choice and—it feels better.”
Well said Jennifer. In the rest of her cover story, Jennifer talks about what she needs in a relationship (“I would so much rather be bored than excited and have passion”), her adoration for the Real Housewives franchise, and her love for comedian Larry David.
Read the full cover story when the issue hits newsstands October 8 in the digital editions and on national newsstands on October 14.
