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Dressed up, dressed down.. Jennifer Connelly
By Laurie Sandell
Glamour
September 2005
For Glamour’s 800th issue, we wanted a cover model who reflects the amazing qualities of American women today: smarts, talent, confidence, all-around gorgeousness! Jennifer Connelly fits the bill. Here, the style icon gets dressed three ways – and opens up about her unprincessy real life
You’ve seen her in major movies and on the red carpet, but odds are you don’t know much about Jennifer Connelly. The 34 year old star of the recent horror film Dark Water has managed to keep an unusually low profile. She lives in New York with her husband, the British actor Paul Bettany, and two sons, Kai, eight (her son from a previous relationship with photographer David Dugan), and Stellen, two. She rides the subway, plays baseball in the park, and makes pottery with her kids. Despite how ridiculously beautiful she is, the woman blends in.
Yet Connelly is no Hollywood newbie: She started out in the business when she was 10 as a Danskin tights model. Her big break came at age 11, when she was cast as the young version of Elizabeth McGovern’s role in Once Upon A Time In America. Since then she’s stared in more then 25 films, including Requiem For A Dream and Pollock (2000), A Beautiful Mind (2001), for which she won an Oscar, and House Of Sand And Fog (2003). So how has she done what every serious actress in Hollywood aspires to do – stave off the paparazzi and lead a normal life? Glamour sat down with Connelly to find out.
GLAMOUR: You’re known as a fairly private person. What is the one thing you’re willing to reveal bout yourself?
JENNIFER CONNELLY: I’m fluent in Russian. No, I’m kidding! It’s that I don’t think of myself as terribly refined. I’m sill wearing the same Dr. Martens – style boots I’ve had since I was 15. [We took a picture]
GLAMOUR: How did your personal style evolve?
JC: I don’t know that I have one! Most of my clothes come from events I’ve attended, wardrobes from films, items people have given me. That’s not to say I don’t have an appreciation for nice clothing – I fantasize about how I would dress if I actually took the time to go shopping. But I’d rather spend those two hours doing yoga or hanging out with my kids.
GLAMOUR: But you always look so put together on the red carpet – is that because you work with a stylist?
JC: Yes, for events like premieres. Sometimes I work directly with a designer: Right now, I’m really into Lanvin, Rochas and Alexander McQueen. For dressy occasions I prefer Balenciaga – I went to the Costume Institute gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art In New York this year in one of their dresses.
GLAMOUR: The press criticized you for wearing a short dress to that event when everyone else was wearing floor-length gowns. You also got flack for the nude-color Balenciaga dress you wore to the 2002 Oscars. How do you handle that sort of thing?
JC: Unless you wear the safest thing in the world – like a simple black dress – someone’s going to take issue with it. I can see how people would look at the feathered dress I wore to the Met ball and think, she needs to be plucked. Or look at my Oscar dress and think, that color is drab. Personally, I liked both. One was quirky and the other looked like it had been discovered in a trunk on a sunken ship. If I’d worn a tight dress that showed lots of cleavage, some fashionista would’ve said, “That’s really tacky.” You can’t please everyone.
GLAMOUR: You tend not to show cleavage. Do you cover up on purpose?
JC: I don’t think so. The other night I went out with Paul and wore a really low-cut, short, strapless dress.
GLAMOUR: What would you wear to meet with a director?
JC: I try to look cleaner than I would if I were going to play a game of baseball, but high heels aren’t practical for the way I spend my day. After this interview I’m meeting with a director, doing some errands in the city and taking my kids to the park. I need to be able to walk
GLAMOUR: Did you dress up for your wedding?
JC: I did. But at first we weren’t going to. Paul and I rented a house in Scotland and invited a small group. We figured we’d hang out for the week and get married in jeans. But the woman who owned the place decorated it so beautifully – with ivy and 80 candles – we felt we couldn’t wear our casual clothes. So I work a black Balenciaga dress I was planning on wearing to a press evnet and Paul wore a suit.
GLAMOUR: Would you like to work with your husband in a film again?
JC: Absolutely – we never really have, because none of our scenes in A Beautiful Mind were together. I think it is the most absurd thing that real-life couples rarely get cast together in films. It’s not like the old days, when the Beatles had to pretend they didn’t have wives and girlfriends so female fans could fantasize that they were available. Today everyone knows everyone’s professional lives. Plus, Paul is a really good actor and we’d get a lot of free rehearsal time!
GLAMOUR: What was your upbringing like?
JC: My family moved between Brooklyn and upstate New York. I loved being in the country, because I was a tomboy. I liked to climb trees, wear plain t-shirts, and jump off the roof of an abandoned shack in the woods. Sleepaway camp didn’t go to well because the girls wanted to talk about boys – meanwhile I wanted to hang out with the boys, who were doing fun things like sports and swimming. I just wasn’t very girly. I didn’t even wear lip gloss until I was in my twenties!
GLAMOUR: You’re living in Brooklyn again. Do you get treated like any other mom in your neighborhood?
JC: I’m aware that people know my name, but I’m never made to feel uncomfortable. I like that about Brooklyn: It’s a bit less fashionable, you know? Anyway, most of the time my life is quite normal. How many pictures can you take of me playing with my kids on the playground?
GLAMOUR: So what’s next for you?
JC: Doing Dark Water was one of my all time favorite experiences. So I’m feeling very excited about my work. But I also recognize that acting can be a short game for women. You can only play the younger woman for so long – then you move into the zone of character actress, the older mom. So I want to give it everything I have right now.
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