Jennifer Lawrence is on the cover of Vogue this month talking about her new film Causeway, her new baby boy Cy — named for her art gallerist husband Cooke Maroney’s favorite artist, Cy Twombly — and her somewhat newfound progressive values. The coverline, a quote from J-Law herself, pretty much says it all: “YOU HAVE TO BE POLITICAL.” You do have to.
Today, Lawrence is fired up about the fall of Roe and angry at her Trump-voting dad and disgusted by J.D. Vance, the Republican Senate candidate from Ohio. “He’s not a hillbilly if he wrote a huge book,” she told Vogue. “Rich twat. I mean, I’m a rich twat, but I’m not running for office pretending that I’m not.”
While this kind of language is not new for America’s favorite cool girl, the sentiment behind it is. Just two years ago, in the runup to the 2020 presidential election, Lawrence revealed her political affiliation for the first time. She said on a podcast that she started her career as a good citizen by voting for John McCain in 2008. “It’s extremely hard to talk about politics, and you know, you don’t want to,” she said. “I’m an actor, I want everybody to see my movies. I grew up Republican. My first time voting, I voted for John McCain. I was a little Republican.”
Lawrence was 18 when she cast that little Republican vote, but she told Vogue that her true political awakening began two years earlier when she was watching 30 Rock and Tina Fey-as-Liz Lemon made a joke that made sense to her. Vogue quotes it as “something along the lines of, I’m not a crazy liberal. I just think people should drive hybrid cars.”
(The actual joke went like this: “Just because I think gay dudes should be allowed to adopt kids and we should all have hybrid cars doesn't mean I don't love America.”)
That seed of liberalism grew and grew until Lawrence apparently spent the runup to this Vogue cover harassing the reporter with her every thought about the midterms. “In the days and weeks after the interview at her house, she kept thinking of more things to say,” writes reporter Abby Aguirre. “There were multiple calls, one on the Fourth of July, and at least one voice memo. She would send long, thought-out, fact-filled paragraphs—mini op-eds—via text. Later, on the phone, emotion would pour out.”
According to Aguirre, Lawrence quoted Ruth Bader Ginsburg, criticized the two-party system, and dunked on Mitch McConnell. She also quoted another good television show, Veep, when discussing abortion rights. “Get the government out of my snatch,” she said. “Okay? Pull quote! On the record!”
Lawrence’s political conversion, it seems, is complete. Hopefully, in addition to sending voice memos about the Supreme Court to a Vogue reporter, she’s donated some money to abortion funds and Democratic candidates too.
