The Italian version of Vanity Fair posted a new photoshoot + interview of Lili Reinhart. Three photos are now available in the gallery and a translation of the article can be read here, right below the gallery links. Note that I don’t speak italian (like, at all) and used Google Translate to (roughly) translate the interview and them did some modifications on it so it’s clearer. If you fluently speak italian and see some mistakes, feel free to report them!

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Vanity Fair | Lili Reinhart: “Enough with the toxic culture of diets”

The dialogue with your body and mental health must be managed: Lili Reinhart is a model for the Gen Z who follows her in Riverdale. And with the conquest of the Women in Film Max Mara Face of the Future Award her begins her turning point as an actress.

Lili Reinhart crouches on the leather sofa, tilts her head to the side and tells me she can’t keep her mouth shut. “I don’t want to expose myself all the time either, but someone has to do it, right?” She asks. The last time she could not shut up was last May, when she took it out – without ever mentioning it – with Kim Kardashian and the “toxic culture of diets” : the occasion was Kim’s notable and lightning-fast weight loss, willing at all costs to get into a famous Marilyn Monroe dress to show off at the Met Gala. Her accusation: bragging about having lost all those pounds in a short time is harmful. Ahead of her twenty-six years, her last years were spent playing Betty Cooper, the good girl next door protagonist of Riverdale, the Gen Z TV series par excellence, but also to raise awareness on mental health and body positivity. With rare sincerity, she spoke of suffering from anxiety and depression, and of the difficulties in accepting her body.

Lili was in Milan to attend the Max Mara spring-summer fashion show, which on October 27 will present her with the Women in Film Max Mara Face of the Future Award of 2022, the prize awarded every year to an actress who is at a turning point in her career. The watershed for her will be the farewell to Riverdale, of which filming is underway for the final season. Lili Reinhart is Betty Cooper: a character as much loved by the very young as it is difficult to forget.

What effect does winning the Women in Film Max Mara Face of the Future award have?
“When I found out, I felt flattered and honored to be considered an influential person. At that moment I thought I won it for my work on mental health and body acceptance. Then a friend pointed out to me the obvious: I receive it as an actress. It was interesting, a confirmation of what I do. I still can’t take myself completely seriously.”

Because?
“Maybe because I would like to keep my feet on the ground, or because I haven’t received many awards yet or maybe it’s just the impostor syndrome. I certainly feel that I have not yet shown my best as an actress.”

What would you like to do?
“I started a production company with which I am developing very ambitious projects that also include fantastic roles for me. When I start playing more demanding characters, I will feel more confident.”

What is the life of an idol for the very young like?
“Oh God, idol is a strong word, perhaps better to say model. It’s both an honor and a curse, especially when what I’m saying is taken out of context and used to make clickbait. In any case it is a privilege to have a voice that will be heard and I think that if you have this possibility you have to use it to say things, send messages. In my small way I always try to bring my authentic self into interviews and books and everything I do.”

In fact, she often talks about mental health and her anxiety and depression issues. How did you overcome them?
“I have not passed them. It’s an important point, that’s why I keep talking about it. For me, there is no solution”.

Will it never be there?
“Maybe someone found it, but in my case there is no definitive cure for depression, which is caused by a malfunction of a part of the brain. I have found some ways to relieve it and to ease anxiety: keeping a journal, attending retreats, being with friends. It’s a problem I can manage.”

The word “divine” is tattooed on your arm. Because?
“Two years ago, after the end of a relationship, I started a spiritual journey that led me to study reiki in depth, I will soon become a teacher. I just returned from a retreat with two friends in Northern California. Spirituality today is an important part of my life.”

Is there a link between mental health and your job?
“There may be. My job is sometimes hyper-stressful. And there is the question of self-image. Although I started suffering from dysmorphophobia before I started acting: I was 13 and I was obsessed with acne. Then the skin fell into place.”

With her image she works there.
“It happens that I fixate on some parts of my body, I obsessively compare myself to others, and so it is difficult to do photoshoots, fittings for films. Standing in front of the camera amplifies everything. You are constantly photographed and filmed and there is a canon of beauty to conform to: a single size, a certain face. Take Gossip Girl: the actors all look alike. It’s not a bad thing, but it’s not representative of reality.”

But there are improvements, don’t you think?
“Yes, for a couple of years the industry has been trying to be more inclusive and diversity has become an important value.”

But when it comes to choosing the lead actress…
“Nothing has changed! We are still afraid of taking risks, of changing the order of things.”

She also denounced the “toxic culture of diets”. Do your colleagues not expose themselves?
“Never. It is disappointing to find myself being the only one talking about these issues. Colleagues avoid it in order not to put themselves in the center of attention. But I don’t want to do it either. You find yourself with a million people tweeting about insults and insults and telling you to shut up. But do you know what? If a woman says she goes on a diet to get into a dress she actually sends a message. These statements and the complicit silence of others contribute to a toxic way of judging the body. I would like to be a positive model.”

You have been playing a young girl, Betty Cooper, for several years. What do you have in common?
“I love Betty. Like me, she fights for her dear ones and for her ideals. I brought my sense of humor to her.”

How do you get rid of such a famous character?
“Some will always see me as Betty Cooper, just as for some Kristen Stewart is still Bella Swan. When you’re part of a very commercial series, breaking away takes time and talent. Today I feel lucky because I can arrive prepared, but it will be a difficult farewell.”

Who would you like to work with at the cinema?
“With Yorgos Lanthimos: I love his films, I loved The Favorite (2018). Among the Italians, Luca Guadagnino: it would be a dream to be directed by him ».

Speaking of Guadagnino, in 2016 you worked with his fetish actor, Timothée Chalamet, before he became a celebrity, in the film Miss Stevens. Are you still friends?
“Yes, we meet often and it’s great to see each other. I remember watching him act and telling him: you will win an Oscar. It was obvious. He is gifted with great talent, he has a unique ability to express the vulnerability of young men. We met when we were very young and at the beginning, so when we meet today it’s all a: ‘Oh do you remember?’. It is very useful for keeping our feet on the ground: we both know how we were when things were more difficult.”