It wouldnโt be a stretch to say that Jennifer Lawrence is the mayor of New Yorkโs Greenwich Hotel. Sure, Robert De Niro owns it, but Lawrence owns it. Sitting on a corner couch, with her tiny dog, Pippi, running around the room, she is as at home as is possible when youโre an Oscar-winning movie star orbited by guests at a Manhattan hotel.
As is now legend, Lawrence is a talker. โI was thinking we should start in silence,โ I say, presenting her with the challenge of a lifetime. โNo!โ she yelps. โThat would make me want to talk more than anything. All of a sudden a million words would flood into my head.โ She looks genuinely panicked.
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Lawrence is in town for a few days before heading to Montreal to finish shooting X-Men: Apocalypse, out this month. She tries to be a low-key presence in New York, but the city finds her anyway. A couple of nights earlier, on Valentineโs Day, she went out for dinner in Brooklyn with her friend comic Aziz Ansari. Lawrenceโs dinnersโAdele! Emma Stone!โand friendsโAmy Schumer! Lena Dunham!โare manna for media heaven, but this one was special order. According to breathless tabloid reports, Lawrence ate a โsandwich dipped in ketchup.โ (โUm, a sandwich dipped in ketchup is a cheeseburger,โ she observes.) โIt was the one night I could see Aziz. For Valentineโs he got me a stuffed animal, and I got him a โThatโs So Ravenโ Valentineโs Day card.โ
That, it would seem, is the extent of Lawrenceโs โromanticโ life at present. However, ask if sheโs having a frisson with anyone and she goes pink, and is suddenly, strugglingly, silent. โThereโs frisson all over my face,โ she jokes. โI canโt! Anything I say about boys gets picked up.โ She will admit that she doesnโt have a type. โI donโt think so because patterns are the work of the devil.โ She lets out her bellowing laugh. โIf I think about all of my ex-boyfriends, they are all so uncomparable.โ Lawrence has been single for a while, although from her demeanor perhaps this will be short-lived. But as of now: โSex? Someone explain to me what it is.โ
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Lawrence doesnโt need anything explained to herโshe is at the peak of her powers. Her confidence is palpable, her conversation both bantering and impatient. You can understand why her friends are so famed, such ballers, because to be Lawrenceโs friend, balls are a requirement. โI can feel people sometimes are intimidated by me, but I try to do the best I can to offset that,โ she says. โThere is zero reason to be intimidated by me. At all. But I also understand it.โ
Lawrenceโs outspokenness reached a crescendo with her essay for Lena Dunhamโs Lenny newsletter last year about equal pay in Hollywood. โI had no idea it was going to blow up like that,โ she recalls. โAnd I obviously only absorbed the negative. I didnโt pay any attention to the positive feedback. My parents get really upset. They do not like me speaking out about anything political because itโs hard to see your kid take criticism. But, really, people who criticized it are people who think women should not be paid the same as men. So I donโt really care what those people think.โ At the Golden Globes, host Ricky Gervais cracked, โJennifer Lawrence โฆ demanded equal pay for women in Hollywood, and she received overwhelming support from people everywhere. There were marches โฆ with nurses and factory workers saying, โHow the hell can a 25-year-old live on 52 million?โ โ The camera switched to Lawrence laughing appropriately. โI try not to be too sensitive to the โpoor rich girlโ jokes,โ she explains. โI was saying my reality is absolutely fabulous, but it is not the reality of a lot of women in America. Thatโs what Iโm talking about.โ
โThere is zero reason to be intimidated by me. At all. But I also understand it.โ
Lawrence wrote in Lenny, โIโm over trying to find the โadorableโ way to state my opinion and still be likable.โ That said, she doesnโt think being a pleaser equals being weak. โThereโs nothing wrong with being a pleaser if youโre smart about it,โ she says. โAs long as youโre getting whatโs fair. You know, I want my employers to be happy. I want to please anyone Iโm working for as long as they pay me the appropriate amount. Iโll make them as happy as they want.โ
On feminism, she argues, โI donโt know why that word is so scary to people; it shouldnโt be, because it just means equality. If we are moving forward in a society, you are feeling stronger as a woman, and you want to be taken more seriously. You donโt have to take away the wonderful traits that come with being a woman: We are sensitive. We are pleasers. Weโre empathetic. All those things that can keep you from asking for what you want or making mistakes.โ
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Lawrence will readily admit to making a mistake or two, although her stories have more of a bawdy, good-time flavor. Everyone, you see, wants to hang out with J.Law. In what ways, though, is she a social disappointment? โHa! Thatโs good.โ She grins. โI donโt really stay out late. Iโm kind of a bummer. Iโm a nana. Itโs hard to get me out, and when I do go out I donโt really stay out late. If I do stay out late and Iโm partying hard, I will throw up. I donโt have the tolerance to black out; I just start puking.โ
By way of a witness, she adds, โAsk Emma Stone. It was the night we saw Adele in L.A. She just started rubbing my back. She was really sweet. I was like, โGet out of here. Itโs so gross.โ โ Add to that party compadre Woody Harrelson. โWoody cut his foot. He stayed over in one of my guest bedrooms, but thatโs where I started puking. I broke a candle because I canโt just puke like a normal personโI flay my arms everywhere. And I didnโt clean it up because Iโm an asshole. The next day he cut his foot open. I was like, โFuck, am I going to get sued?โ And heโs like, โAre you going to ask if Iโm okay?โ โ She demurely sips her tea. โThat night got crazy.โ I suggest that the next time Lawrence embraces the porcelain, Adele should be in the corner singing as a distraction. โYeah!โ She laughs. โShe would be totally up for it.โ
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Lawrence has a technical term for such behavior: โMis-drinking. Mixing โtime with Woodyโ [insert wink] with time at the bar.โ She shakes her head. โAnd Iโd gone so long without making a mistake.โ
Even though she is a huge, megaton celebrity, Lawrence says she makes new friends easily. โYeah, I do, which is actually surprising. There were a few years where I had to get used to everything, but now I am. I donโt have to be wary of people; itโs fine.โ
A typical day for Lawrence when sheโs not working entails the following: โWake up. I take Pippi on a running hike. Iโll probably do Pilates or something. Then Iโll hang out with a friend to count down the hours of my wasteful life. Then I watch TV, and then Iโll go to bed. Thereโs my day.โ What makes her laugh? โThe Onion headlines. Get me every time. The last one that made me laugh was โUgly Girl Killed.โ โ
โI think weโve gotten so used to underweight that when you are a normal weight itโs like, โOh, my God, sheโs curvy.’โ
Thankfully for her survival on an Onion-ruled earth, Lawrence has become a real beauty. She has eased into a streamlined styleโtrousers and heels for day, and clean, feminine pieces for the red carpet. โI think I started paying attention to fashion as soon as paparazzi started happening a few years ago,โ she recalls. โI was not ready. I was like, โWhat do I wear?โ I had to start paying attention. When I turned 25 it got easier because I know, โThis is you, this is not you.โ โ The last thing Lawrence bought for herself was a โpair of earrings. I donโt have a boyfriend, so I have to do that shit on my own.โ
A great aid to her fashion ascension has been Lawrenceโs relationship with Dior. โI could not believe it when they signed me [to be in their campaigns],โ she says. โThey fly me to Paris and get me hotel rooms, and Iโm like, โAre you kidding me? You donโt have to be so nice!โ โ She adds, as an aside, โI couldnโt renew my contract quickly enough.โ
Dior Haute Couture dress, price upon request, 800-929-DIOR.
Mario Sorrenti
On the red carpet, Lawrence has been a veritable Dior show, her most successful looks being, like Lawrence herself, bold and no-frills. Like the red cutout gown she wore to the Golden Globes in January. โThat was my plan-B dress,โ she says. โPlan A was a dress that I couldnโt wear because awards season is synced with my menstrual cycle, and it has been for years.โ The red won because โit was loose at the front. And I didnโt have to worry about sucking anything in. The other dress was really tight, and Iโm not going to suck in my uterus. I donโt have to do that.โ
Aesthetics are also an element of the film industry that Lawrence would like to change. โI would like us to make a new normal-body type,โ she says. โEverybody says, โWe love that there is somebody with a normal body!โ And Iโm like, โI donโt feel like I have a normal body.โ I do Pilates every day. I eat, but I work out a lot more than a normal person. I think weโve gotten so used to underweight that when you are a normal weight itโs like, โOh, my God, sheโs curvy.โ Which is crazy. The bare minimum, just for me, would be to up the ante.โ That earthy laugh returns. โAt least so I donโt feel like the fattest one.โ
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Mario Sorrenti
The May 2016 issue of Harperโs BAZAAR is available on newsstands April 19.
Hair: Duffy; Makeup: Peter Philips for Christian Dior; Manicure: Alicia Torello for OPI; Set Design: Philipp Haemmerle Inc.
