Life Lessons From Christina Ricci

Welcome to Life Lessons. This week, as we attempt to process the season finale of Showtime’s Yellowjackets, we look back at one of our most iconic and highly-referenced covers featuring Christina Ricci. The Ricci-renaissance has been building in recent years, starting with a brief appearance in the latest Matrix film, and blossoming into the actor’s scene-stealing, critically acclaimed run as the eerie, malevolent Misty in the thriller series. Captured by Ellen von Unwerth for our December 1999 issue, the “last cover girl of the century”—then just 19 years old—tells the author Sylvia Patterson about her “weirdo-goth” reputation, her already-illustrious career, and the pitfalls of gaining fame at an early age. So sit back, grab a pen—you just might learn a thing or two.   

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“I don’t think I represent anything but me. I’m certainly not trying to. I’m not conscious of anything else but my day-to-day life. But I’m willing to represent whatever you want me to.”

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“I don’t like being told what to do, and since I’m an actor that’s a bit of a problem because you spend your entire day being told what to do.”

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“I don’t like change. I don’t like ‘new.’ I like everything to be the same so that I can concentrate. You can concentrate on having a life when everything around you is familiar.”

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“I feel some people act like making movies is doing God’s work, when really it’s nothing. We’re all whoring ourselves out for money. We’re giving people pleasure and we’re getting paid to do it.”

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“Usually the ones who say they don’t give a fuck are the ones who care the most.”

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“I’m very American. All the bad stuff and good stuff in one. I’m obsessed with television, obsessed with celebrities. I hold on to things that people say and I remember things that I’m told. A lot of my opinions have been formed by my parents, and I don’t reject them—I accept them.”

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“I’m just normal. And for some reason, that is wildly abnormal. But I know that what I am is actually more acceptable than the stereotype. If I was something horribly dislikable, then I would probably change.”

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“I’m not particularly vulnerable. You can’t walk around with your insides hanging out all the time. You can control the way you behave and the way you react to other people.”