Shailene Woodley is one of the most talented young actresses in Hollywood. She has worked alongside industry superstars like Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon, and Laura Dern in HBO’s ‘Big Little Lies’. But, Woodley’s journey has been long and hard.
She was a child when she started her career in acting and became America’s sweetheart with the ABC series ‘The Secret Life of the American Teenager.’ Woodley further showed her mettle in ‘The Fault in Our Stars’ and the ‘Divergent’ series. But, there was a time when she almost quit acting. What made the promising star consider it?
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Shailene Woodley’s Career Almost Came To An End
Shailene Woodley did not want fame. She said in a 2018 interview with Net-A-Porter, “When I was 7, I said, ‘The day I’m on the cover of a magazine, I’m going to quit,’ because I never wanted this industry to get in the way of my life.” But, a more serious thing was about to put an end to her career.
In her 20s, Woodley fell sick and thought she’d have to leave her passion for acting. In conversation with The New York Times in 2020, the actress recalled, “I was very, very sick in my early 20s. While I was doing the ‘Divergent’ movies and working hard, I also was struggling with a deeply personal, very scary physical situation. Because of that, I said no to a lot of opportunities because I needed to get better, and those jobs ended up going to peers of mine who I love.“
All this really affected Woodley as she saw good role slipping away with her health condition. “I was in a place where I had no choice but to just surrender and let go of my career,” she admitted. But, the actress sprung back stronger than ever after dealing with the illness which many didn’t understand.
Woodley explained to The Hollywood Reporter, “You feel so incredibly isolated and alone. Unless someone can see that you have a broken arm or a broken leg, it’s really difficult for people to relate to the pain that you’re experiencing when it’s a silent, quiet and invisible pain.”
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How ‘Big Little Lies’ Pushed Shailene Woodley To Embrace Acting Again
There was a period of one year after ‘Divergent: Allegiant’ bombed at the box office when Shailene Woodley refused to even read any script. But, ‘Big Little Lies’ was the massive project that changed her perspective and made her take up acting again.
Once she learned about the superstar cast, she couldn’t say no. “I read it, fell in love with it, and Laura [Dern] called me, and that was really the push,” Woodley said.
What’s the actress’ trick to not let the pressures of the industry get to her? Woodley said that despite envisioning a different career for herself while growing up, she now has “the best job in the world,” however, she tries to maintain a healthy distance from acting.
“Obviously, it is my career now. It’s what I spend most of my time doing, but I don’t live and breathe acting. I could cry talking about it. And it’s fleeting, I remind myself of that every day. What I do can be taken away at any moment,” Woodley concluded.
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