Nikki Reed on Pet Rats and Finger Painting

ELLE: Is the constant attention or scrutiny challenging?
NR: I have such strong feelings about internet-cyber bullying and all that. I was sitting with Lauren Alaina, who’s one of the Idol’s, in the Philippines two weeks ago. She was talking about someone saying something about whatever. And I was like, ‘Dude, I just was on E! Online—not Marc Malkin, but Ted Casablanca—and because of whatever waswritten, the people who go on there and the things that they say, the comments, are faceless so they’re empowered. It doesn’t get any easier. There are moments when I’ll go on a wall and be like, ‘Oh, that doesn’t bother me.’ But words can be vicious. My mom taught me that as a kid, to watch what you say to others because you can’t take it back, but it’s a whole different game when it’s in writing and there’s no one to point a finger at.

ELLE: How do you get away from that and unwind?
NR: Paul and I have a group of really silly friends. We are surrounded by goofy people. We’re kind of goofy too. A night off includes finger painting on the walls—which we’ll inevitably go back over with white the next day when we regret everything we’ve painted—and then some grilling, some cannonballs in the pool, and then some Just Dance, maybe some Yahtzee.

ELLE: As a child, was this your dream job?
NR: I actually always wanted to work with animals—I still do.  I have a beautiful dog named Enzo, but I’ve had horses, cats, rabbits, rats. I mean, I was that kid. I actually had six rats in junior high school: Callie, Splinter, Daisy, Sniffles, Crystal. They used to have baths and nail trimmings. It was serious.

Read more of the interview at Elle

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