It feels cool to be in single mode but in a few months I know I’ll be devastatingly lonely again
J-LAW ON LOVE AND HER NEW ROLE AS A RUSSIAN SPY
She’s one of the world’s most indemand actresses, commands millions for each movie and is on the guest list for every big event. But while she looked radiant at the London premiere of her movie Red Sparrow last night, Jennifer Lawrence insists she’s far more at home on her sofa, watching TV with her dog Pippi.
And after a string of high-profile relationships, she adds the best thing about being single is that she can watch what she likes without being judged.
Though the 27-year-old, who last night announced she would be devoting more time to activism this year, admits it won’t be long before she starts to feel lonely again.
“I am in the single mode where I am like, ‘Cool, I can do whatever I want and I can be alone and watch terrible TV’,” she tells me.
“And then, of course, in a few months I will be devastatingly lonely and feel like I’m on some long waiting list. But I am not there yet.” The Oscar winner has dated stars including Nicholas Hoult, 28, who she met on the set of X-Men: First Class in 2011, until their careers pushed them apart in 2014.
Later that year she dated Coldplay singer Chris Martin, 40, before falling for director Darren Aronofsky, 49, after they worked together on his film Mother!
But since their relationship ended in November, Jen’s been making the most of single life – to catch up with reality TV.
“People think my life must be different but it’s actually pretty normal,” she says. “I’ve always been a homebody and my social life has always been very boring.
“I sit around outside my house with my friends and drink wine, and that hasn’t really changed. I don’t like to go out.” Keeping Up with the Kardashians, sitcom Modern Family and US political comedy Veep are her favourite shows.
Jen continues: “My dining room is off the kitchen, so I’ve turned it into a TV room because I didn’t want the TV room to be the furthest point from the kitchen.
“So I have had to reconstruct my house around my laziness.
“When I come home I unlock the door and greet Pippi. I say, ‘Mummy’s home! Mummy’s home!’ Pippi is so excited and we do the wiggle-wiggle.” She stands up and wiggles her hips.
“Then I take her outside, feed her, turn on the TV and probably pour myself a glass of wine. I have a neighbour who is the most amazing cook, so I’ve just been getting all my meals over there.”
She jokes: “I know how to cook but I don’t like to, unless I want to impress a guy, which isn’t happening any time soon.”
The Hunger Games star says she has lived alone since age 14 but is still close to parents Karen and Gary.
“I’m 27 and I still need my mum,” she says. “She’s been so supportive and I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for her. She’s sacrificed so much so I can have this career. I still want her opinion on pretty much everything, except boys.”
What about her father? She throws up her hands in horror. “I can’t talk to my dad about boys,” the actress says. “He would be mortified. He thought I was on birth control for acne.”
Jennifer loves to laugh. She won the Best Actress Oscar in 2013 for Silver Linings Playbook, Golden Globes for Joy and American Hustle, and a Best Actress Oscar nod for Winter’s Bone.
Until a couple of years ago, Jen rented a two-bedroom apartment. Now, she has a £5million home above Beverly Hills, Los Angeles.
Despite being one of the world’s highest-paid actresses, the star, from Louisville, Kentucky, remains self-deprecating and unaffected by fame. It was these qualities that got her into hot water at Sunday’s Bafta awards.
When Joanna Lumley introduced her as “the hottest actress on the planet”, an embarrassed Jen deadpanned:
“That was a bit much, but thank you Joanna.” She was then called “stuck up” and “disrespectful” on social media. Jennifer said it was an “inside joke” as the pair had chatted before the awards and Joanna knew how she felt about praise. She added: “I couldn’t have just walked out and gone, ‘Thank you, Joanna’. It would’ve been like, ‘So you agree?’ ” We are talking ahead of Red Sparrow, also starring Joel Edgerton, in which she plays a Russian ballerina forced to become a sexy spy after an accident ends her ballet career. Jen says it “challenged” her, as she has shied away from nudity on screen after naked photos she sent ex-boyfriend Nicholas were hacked and shared online in 2014. “There was a long period when I didn’t want to be seen sexually and I didn’t want anybody to see my flesh. There were things that made me uncomfortable,” she says. “I thought, ‘I’ll never share that part of myself ever since it got shared against my will’.
“But if I wanted to tell the story, I was going to have to get over that.
“For us to make it as true to form as possible was more important than the fears I have had.
“It was definitely going out of my comfort zone, but I am happy I did it.”
The star also spent three hours a day for four months learning the poise and elegance of a ballerina. “As soon as we wrapped the ballet stuff, I threw a party,” she laughs.
It was while filming the movie in Budapest last year that she got into a bar fight with a man who was angry at her refusing him a selfie.
“Something in me just snapped,” Jennifer said at the time, after she poured beer on him.
Like many Hollywood stars, Jen has had dealings with producer Harvey Weinstein. She said: “I had known him since I was 20 and he had only ever been nice to me, except for the moments he wasn’t and then I called him an arsehole and we moved on.
“He was paternal and I thought I knew him, but he’s accused of rape.”
The star will now be working more closely with Represent.Us, which gets young people involved in politics.
Jen, who is already on its board, initially said she was taking a year off acting, but it was confirmed she will also be doing projects including the film Bad Blood, about real-life biotech entrepreneur Elizabeth Holmes.
It’s a daunting schedule. But at least between saving democracy and wiggles with Pippi, there won’t be much time to be devastatingly lonely.