Shailene Woodley

About

Shailene Woodley is an American actress best known for portraying Tris Prior, the main protagonist of the young adult science fiction trilogy Divergent, in the film adaptations of the books and Hazel Grace, the female protagonist in the 2014 teen drama The Fault in Our Stars. On Twitter and elsewhere online, Woodley has developed a fan following for her advocacy of holism and homeopathy and apparent bohemian lifestyle.

Acting Career

Woodley began his acting career^[2] in the early 2000s through minor roles on TV series before landing a recurring role on the teen drama series The OC from 2003-2004. In 2008 she landed the lead on the ABC teen drama The Secret Life of the American Teenager, which concluded in 2013 after five seasons. She received critical acclaim for her roles in the dramatic films The Descendants (2011) and The Spectacular Now (2013) and truly rose to high profile fame after being cast in the film adaptations of two young adult novels, Divergent (2014) and The Fault in Our Stars (2014).

Online History

Beginning the fall of 2013, Woodley became more visible online as she began doing press events and interviews for the-then upcoming 2014 young adult science fiction film Divergent. On March 13th, 2014, Woodley appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, where she gave him a collection of vegetables and roots, including a phallic looking horseradish. Because of Fallon’s amused reaction and the gift fitting in with her natural persona, the segment was covered by several websites including The Wrap,^[15], E! Online,^[16] and Us Weekly.^[17] It was uploaded to the show’s official YouTube channel^[13] the same day, and as of May 2014, the video has gained over 350,000 views.

Reputation

Woodley became more visible online as she began doing press events and interviews for Divergent in Fall 2013. Many sites began to focus their coverage on her “hippie persona,” as she often spoke about using natural medicine and food and living simply, as well as hailing her as the next “It” girl. On October 11th, 2013, Buzzfeed published an article titled “The 9 Most Wonderfully Hippie Things That Shailene Woodley Has Said.” On December 4th, New York magazine published an article about Woodley’s easy going attitude titled “Shailene Woodley’s Beauty Mantra: ‘You Do You’,” and on February 4th, 2014, Buzzfeed published an article titled “9 Reasons Shailene Woodley Is The Next Jennifer Lawrence.”

On Homeopathy

Woodley has frequently spoken to interviewers about the importance of homeopathy and natural living. In an interview published by In the Gloss^[23] on March 17th, 2014, she said:

“I love a natural way to heal. You can do something called ‘oil pulling’ where you swish coconut or sesame oil in your mouth when you wake up and spit it out. It’s amazing!

She also tweets about homeopathy.

Homeless Lifestyle

On May 16th, 2014, Woodley appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live. During an interview she explained to Kimmel that she had given her house to her grandmother, as she has so few possessions she can fit them all in a suitcase and when she’s in her hometown she prefers to couch surf at her friends’ homes. Many sites reported on the clip creating headlines calling Woodley homeless, including E! Online^[20] and Gawker.^[21] The clip was uploaded to Jimmy Kimmel Live’s YouTube channel^[22] the same day, and in less than 24 hours it gained over 50,000 views.

Feminist Backlash

On May 5th, 2014, TIME^[4] published an interview with Woodley titled “Shailene Woodley on Why She’s Not a Feminist.” When asked, “Do you consider yourself a feminist?” she explained:

“No because I love men, and I think the idea of ‘raise women to power, take the men away from the power’ is never going to work out because you need balance. "

There was an immediate backlash against her assertion and incorrect definition of feminism on Twitter.

Several websites ran pieces highlighting her incorrect definition and examining what her confusion could mean for feminism in general. On May 6th, Hello Giggles^[5] published an article titled “Shailene Woodley Feminist Just Doesn’t Know It.” The same day BUST, who had Woodley as their cover model for their February 2014 issue, published “An Open Letter To Shailene Woodley From BUST Magazine,” which dissected the TIME’s quote and explained her misconceptions about feminism. On May 7th, New York Magazine^[6] published an article titled “I Was Shailene Woodley: I Used to Say I Wasn’t a Feminist.”

Fandom

As of May 2014, Woodley’s Facebook page^[9] has over 140,000 likes and her Twitter account^[10] has over 590,000 followers. Fans have created several Tumblr blogs dedicated to her including Shailenewoodleydaily^[12] and Shailenewoodleysource.^[13] DeviantArt^[11] has over 800 fan art submissions featuring Woodley as of May 2014.

In The Fault in Our Stars

On January 29th, 2014, 20th Century Fox’s posted a trailer for The Fault in Our Stars, narrated by Woodley, on their official YouTube^[2] channel. On May 7th, the trailer broke the record for most liked YouTube video,^[3] passing the previous record holder, the trailer for the One Direction concert film 1D: This is Us. As of May 2014, the video has gained over 280,000 likes and 18.1 million views.