Shailene Woodley went from child actress to a movie star on the big screen with the release of her latest films "Divergent" and "The Fault is in Our Stars." But before finding major success in the film industry, Woodley said she considered quitting acting.
During an interview for the July issue of Vanity Fair Magazine, the 22-year-old actress admitted that she considered quitting acting after starring with George Clooney in the 2011 drama "The Descendants". Woodley said she felt the pressure of living up to someone else's expectation in Hollywood.
"Somebody came to me and said, 'I can't wait to see what you do next.' I took that as pressure - that I had to live up to somebody else's expectations," Woodley told the magazine. "There were a few months where I was like, 'I don't want to act anymore.' And then I got over it and realized it's none of my business what other people think of me."
Woodley also admitted that she was disappointed after learning that her role as Mary Jane Watson was cut from "The Amazing Spider-Man 2."
"For a few hours it was literally like, 'Oh, my God, was I awful? Why did they cut me? What are people going to think?'" the actress told Vanity Fair. "I woke up the next morning and I was like, 'OK, it makes total sense.' I'm a pretty spiritual person, so I can just sit back and trust that everything happens for a reason, even if my ego doesn't like it."
During the interview Woodley jokingly compared her relationship with actor Miles Teller, her co-star in "The Spectacular Now," to Julia Roberts and Clooney. Woodley also called Clooney her angel and revealed that he helped her overcome her fears with his kindness.
"He has been an angel in my life for many reasons," Woodley said. "He knew everyone's name on set. He treated everyone as an equal and everyone got his warmth."
In a separate statement Clooney told Vanity Fair, "Shailene can do whatever she wants. If she wants to be a movie star, she has it. If she wants to change the world, she will. Her talent and kindness go hand in hand. We'll be talking about Shailene Woodley 40 years from now. I've never seen anyone so young that has so much together."
Woodley's latest movie "The Fault in Our Stars," grossed nearly $50 million domestically last weekend. The actress played a teenage cancer patient who falls for a boy (Ansel Elgort) she meets in a cancer support group.
