‘It's Okay Not To Be Perfect'

ACTRESS KRISTEN BELL ON THE MOMENT THAT CHANGED HER PERSPECTIVE ON LIFE, HOW SHE KEEPS HER MARRIAGE STRONG AND WHY SHE DOESN’T OWN A SCALE

Kristen Bell, 39, began her acting career on Broadway before moving to LA, where the Veronica Mars TV series gave her widespread recognition. She went on to star in romantic comedies like Couples Retreat and Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and later voiced the character Anna in Disney’s Frozen. Kristen currently stars as Eleanor in The Good Place and has reprised her role in the Veronica Mars season four reboot. She is married to actor Dax Shepard and they have two daughters, Lincoln and Delta.

I was outgoing as a kid and I had lots of friends. But I was also strange in some ways – I spent a lot of time in my own fantasy world and would do funny things like talk to my dogs. I was always trying to be nice to everyone and just praying that I wouldn’t get bullied. I attended a really small school in Michigan, where everybody knew each other and it would have been hell to be in the uncool group, so I tried to be cute and cool and wanted to be liked by everyone. That experience had a negative effect on me because I had to put on an act, and that makes you think you’re not good enough.