Jennifer Lawrence says talking about Trump would ‘add fuel to the fire tearing the country apart’ | Jennifer Lawrence

Jennifer Lawrence said she no longer feels it is appropriate to speak out against the Trump administration, fearing it will exacerbate unhelpful controversy and further divide.

“I don’t really know if I should,” Lawrence said in an interview with The New York Times. “During the first Trump administration, I felt like I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off. But as we’ve learned, celebrities, in election after election, make absolutely no difference to who people vote for.”

“So what do I do? I’m just sharing my opinion on something that will add fuel to the fire that is tearing the country apart.”

Lawrence has previously been open about voting for both right and left-wing presidential candidates. She was raised by conservative Republicans in Kentucky, and voted for John McCain in 2008 before joining the Democratic Party. She says she realized during the Obama administration that her vote for Republicans was a vote against her rights as a woman.

In 2015, she said it would be “the end of the world” to elect Donald Trump to the White House and endorsed Joe Biden in the 2020 election. In 2024, she threw her support behind Kamala Harris, “because I think she’s a great candidate and I know she’ll do everything she can to protect reproductive rights.”

Most of Hollywood joined Lawrence in rejecting Donald Trump as a re-election candidate, but the stars’ lack of influence on the public’s voting intentions put the spotlight on Trump’s victory.

“The second term looks different,” Lawrence said of Trump’s presidency. “Because he said what he was going to do. We knew what he did for four years. It was very clear. And that’s what we chose.”

Lawrence is promoting Lynne Ramsay’s drama Die, My Love, in which she plays a new mother struggling with her mental health in rural Montana. Speaking at a press conference for the film in Venice, Lawrence said of the Israeli bombing of Gaza: “I’m terrified. It’s horrific. What’s happening is nothing short of genocide and it’s terrible.”

She went on to say that she was saddened by “the lack of respect in the discourse of American politics right now and how that will be normalized for children now. It will be normal for them for politicians to lie.”

Lawrence sought to redirect anger over the conflict to decision-makers rather than actors and artists. “Continue to focus on who is responsible,” she said, in what many saw as a reference to the recent pledge signed by more than 4,000 entertainment industry figures to boycott Israeli film establishments.

The actress, who won an Oscar at the age of 22 for her role in Silver Linings Playbook, is attracting awards attention for her performance in Die, My Love. Although Ramsay declined to interpret the story as one of postpartum depression and psychosis, Lawrence said she connected with elements of her character’s journey after the birth of her second son, shortly after shooting wrapped.

“It was fear for my baby, just imagining all the worst-case scenarios, and then doubting everything I was doing. I was already on medication, but I took a drug called Zorzovay and took it for two weeks and that really helped me,” she said.

The actress also spoke to The New York Times about the liberating necessity of completing the film’s nude scenes while she was one month pregnant and unable to exercise.

“It feels good” to be forced to let go of vanity, she said. “I mean, I have moments where I’m like, ‘What are the artistic differences between me and a prostitute?’ But that doesn’t keep me up at night.”