Back in the ’90s, Juliette Lewis was the ultimate alternative it-girl.
Today, she is just as iconic as ever.
Her parents practiced Scientology, but Lewis has since left the religion behind.
Lewis often describes her parents as true freethinkers and this seems to have rubbed off on her.
“It was never like, ‘see to it you look pretty!’
My parents only helped me to be myself.”
Then, everything changed when she landed a role in Martin Scorsese’s “Cape Fear.”
Each of these roles added to Lewis' growing reputation as an indie darling.
Lewis had finally found her niche which was not playing any particular bang out.
“If you had brown hair, you’re a moody, sarcastic teen.
When she broke away from stereotypes, Lewis finally discovered that she enjoyed acting.
But they’re also fully realized, most of them.”
“I guess you could say I relish the complex primal energy of humanity.
It’s something I tap into well,” she said.
That’s never been my thing.
There’s a million actresses who do that."
Juliette Lewis dated Brad Pitt
After starring in “Too Young to Die?”
in 1990, Juliette Lewis began a relationship with her co-star who was none other thanBrad Pitt.
At the time, Lewis was 17 and Pitt was 27.
Pitt, it seems, was feeling the same way.
“Then it was over and he went on to become incredibly famous.”
As Lewis later toldThe Guardian, after a few years, the pair were like “strangers.”
And all of that change wasn’t always easy.
“Well, I was 22, 21.
I hadn’t developed a skill set to articulate myself,” she said toThe Times.
Lewis also struggled with becoming a household name.
“When I was coming up, I remember getting fan mail and feeling overwhelmed,” she said.
“And I had to work through some things, because losing one’s anonymity at 20?
I can still get pissed off about it.
It robs you of a lot!”
Perhaps Lewis' growing discomfort with her own fame led to what happened next.
Lewis spent three years getting sober at the Scientology Narconon rehab program.
Even though Lewis isn’t a Scientologist as her parents were, the program seemed to work.
“It 1,000 percent worked,” she said to The Telegraph.
“I’ve been to one rehab and never had a drug problem ever again.”
As she explained, the program helped her rediscover a sense of self-worth.
Unfortunately, the relationship came to an end in 2003.
As Lewis later toldThe Guardian, the pair weren’t ready for life as a married couple.
“He was a workhorse.
Everything was work-related and he found it difficult to be in a marriage,” she said.
“We got married during the illusionist period, the grand illusion.”
she said to TheIndependentat the time.
“And anyway, acting was starting to leave me cold.
Basically, it just doesn’t fulfill all the creative juices I have.”
Instead of chasing acting roles, she followed another passion music.
As Lewis explained to TNT, she had always loved music and wanted to perform.
So began a huge European tour and the life of a rock star.
As Lewis explained toRed, the role turned out to be life-changing.
The role came at a pivotal moment in her life.
The film also made her reconsider her long-held belief that she was done with acting.
“The script made me re-examine what I wanted to do,” she said.
“I felt it was special, ground-breaking.”
As she whimsically toldThe Timesin 2023, “I moved to the mountains.
I’ve not lived in LA for years.”
And the change of pace seems to suit her.
“I’m not striving to hit this or that or get bigger.
But I don’t know.
Since moving out of the city, Lewis has become calmer, too.
As a teenager, she explained, she was a little more highly strung.
Clearly, this wholesome existence is agreeing with her.
“Only recently, I was like,life-work balance?
That’s an amazing concept,” she confessed toThe New York Times.
“I didn’t even know there was a name for it.”
In the past, Lewis explained, she had overworked herself until she couldn’t keep going.
These days, she’s taking a different approach that’s all about moderation.
“I wanted to go as deep as I could in every artistic pursuit,” she said.
“I still like that, but I also want to come back to a home.”
The show also featuresMelanie Lynskey,Christina Ricci, and Elijah Wood.
When filming was finished, Lewis immediately missed it.
“I missed [the other women in the cast] right away,” she toldHarper’s Bazaar.
“I’ve never worked with this many girls together.
None of us has.
It’s really rich, and we all work very similarlyno nonsense.
None of us is pretentious.
We all have a lethal sense of humor.
“Natalie is nothing like myself.”
“The five-oh!”
she said toThe Times.
“I have vanity like everybody else.
You see your face changing.
Lewis added that, despite the vanity that comes with age, she is also trying to practice gratefulness.
“It’s different than the hustle of ambition that we have in our twenties.”
Plus, Lewis is now what many of us would call an “icon.”
“Who, me?”
she joked, adding, “It’s nice!
I was being appreciated differently.”
Lewis may not see herself as an icon, but we certainly do.
