Anna Paquin - Straight Talker
Australian Women’s Weekly NZ|April 2019

After 27 years in the movies, Anna Paquin is tired of being held to a different standard simply because she is a woman. The Kiwi star of X-Men and True Blood talks to Jane Mulkerrins about power, family life and making things happen.

Jane Mulkerrins
Anna Paquin - Straight Talker

Aren’t you bored of seeing women being held to a completely different standard to men?” Anna Paquin asks, entirely rhetorically. “Aren’t you bored to death of women on television making one bad decision then having to spend three episodes atoning for it? It’s bullshit. It’s an insult to our intelligence,” she continues, crackling with consternation. “All hail the end of that era.”

We’re in a juice café in Venice, Los Angeles, a large rose quartz crystal on the table between us, beside glasses of water to which chlorophyll has been enthusiastically added by our waiter (only in LA). Neither of us is as Zen as our surroundings. Anna, who lives close by and confesses to be a fan of the café’s turmeric shots, nevertheless rolls her eyes at the carefully constructed bohemia of it all. She might have worked in Hollywood for 27 of her 36 years, and won an Oscar at 11, but she remains refreshingly no-nonsense.

Her latest onscreen iteration would no doubt go further, and eschew the turmeric shots in favour of tequila. In the much buzzed about TV drama series Flack, she plays Robyn, a celebrity publicist specialising in crisis management and keeping her clients’ indiscretions off the front pages with a wily combination of spin and steel. “She’s incredibly good at her job and unapologetic about the choices she makes,” says Anna.

Some of those choices are bad: having sex with her client – a celebrity chef incapable of staying faithful –and attending Narcotics Anonymous for her boyfriend, while continuing with her cocaine habit. “But a lot of them are for reasons you can understand,” she explains. “Under all the gloss, she’s the child of an addict who was mentally unwell and killed herself. She keeps the plates spinning, but she’s ultimately very damaged.”

Denne historien er fra April 2019-utgaven av Australian Women’s Weekly NZ.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.

Denne historien er fra April 2019-utgaven av Australian Women’s Weekly NZ.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.

FLERE HISTORIER FRA AUSTRALIAN WOMEN’S WEEKLY NZSe alt
PRETTY WOMAN
Australian Women’s Weekly NZ

PRETTY WOMAN

Dial up the joy with a mood-boosting self-care session done in the privacy of your own home. It’s a blissful way to banish the winter blues.

time-read
3 mins  |
July 2024
Hitting a nerve
Australian Women’s Weekly NZ

Hitting a nerve

Regulating the vagus nerve with its links to depression, anxiety, arthritis and diabetes could aid physical and mental wellbeing.

time-read
5 mins  |
July 2024
The unseen Rovals
Australian Women’s Weekly NZ

The unseen Rovals

Candid, behind the scenes and neverbefore-seen images of the royal family have been released for a new exhibition.

time-read
2 mins  |
July 2024
Great read
Australian Women’s Weekly NZ

Great read

In novels and life - there's power in the words left unsaid.

time-read
2 mins  |
July 2024
Winter dinner winners
Australian Women’s Weekly NZ

Winter dinner winners

Looking for some thrifty inspiration for weeknight dinners? Try our tasty line-up of budget-concious recipes that are bound to please everyone at the table.

time-read
3 mins  |
July 2024
Winter baking with apples and pears
Australian Women’s Weekly NZ

Winter baking with apples and pears

Celebrate the season of apples and pears with these sweet bakes that will keep the cold weather blues away.

time-read
7 mins  |
July 2024
The wines and lines mums
Australian Women’s Weekly NZ

The wines and lines mums

Once only associated with glamorous A-listers, cocaine is now prevalent with the soccer-mum set - as likely to be imbibed at a school fundraiser as a nightclub. The Weekly looks inside this illegal, addictive, rising trend.

time-read
10+ mins  |
July 2024
Former ballerina'sBATTLE with BODY IMAGE
Australian Women’s Weekly NZ

Former ballerina'sBATTLE with BODY IMAGE

Auckland author Sacha Jones reveals how dancing led her to develop an eating disorder and why she's now on a mission to educate other women.

time-read
7 mins  |
July 2024
MEET RUSSIA'S BRAVEST WOMEN
Australian Women’s Weekly NZ

MEET RUSSIA'S BRAVEST WOMEN

When Alexei Navalny died in a brutal Arctic prison, Vladimir Putin thought he had triumphed over his most formidable opponent. Until three courageous women - Alexei's mother, wife and daughter - took up his fight for freedom.

time-read
8 mins  |
July 2024
IT'S NEVER TOO LATE TO START
Australian Women’s Weekly NZ

IT'S NEVER TOO LATE TO START

Responsible for keeping the likes of Jane Fonda and Jamie Lee Curtis in shape, Malin Svensson is on a mission to motivate those in midlife to move more.

time-read
5 mins  |
July 2024