Go Your Own Way

From Hollywood child star to modern ingénue, Dakota Fanning’s rise to success has been seamless and without scandal. She tells Martha Hayes where it all went right

- Martha Hayes

Dakota Fanning’s eye roll is so spectacular, it deserves its own meme. Becoming famous at the age of seven, followed by 16 years of being asked the same questions repeatedly, has given her ample practice. The worst offenders allude to how much she’s ‘grown up’ since making her Hollywood debut in I Am Sam (2001) (becoming the youngest actress in history to be nominated, at eight, for a Screen Actors Guild Award); what it was like ‘working with Tom Cruise’ in War Of The Worlds (2005) 12 years ago; and finally, isn’t it a miracle that she didn’t ‘go off the rails’ like so many other child stars. Ugh.

And so it becomes my mission when meeting the now 23-year-old in London for our cover shoot to not give her any opportunity to roll her eyes. Settled on a big sofa in the middle of a bustling studio on a balmy Sunday afternoon, I tell her I’m assuming she probably has gone off the rails in secret and ask her what’s the wildest thing she’s ever done. ‘It would absolutely not be printable,’ she says laughing, clapping her hands. Definitely no eye roll here.

‘It always cracks me up when people talk about how I haven’t gone off the rails − which I have not, by any means − but you know, I’m a normal person. I love a party and I love having people over for any occasion since I’ve had my own apartment in New York. I’m always like, “You can stay with me!” I don’t cook, but I make cocktails. I make a good margarita.’