Hollywood star Shailene Woodley is hoping her latest film Divergent, an adaptation of a young adult novel, will top the box office but she had strong words for Twilight, another teen adaptation.“Twilight, I’m sorry, is about a very unhealthy, toxic relationship,” said Shailene.
It’s not the first criticism Stephanie Meyer’s teen vampire novel and worldwide phenomenon has received but Shailene went a step further. The 22-year-old actress suggested the story involving Bella Swan and vampire Edward Cullen, played by Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson, would not help the future of the world. "She falls in love with this guy and the second he leaves her, her life is over and she’s going to kill herself! What message are we sending to young people?” asked Shailene, before adding: “That is not going to help this world evolve."
Shailene Woodley at the Independent Spirit Awards, 2012
Shailene broke out in George Clooney’s The Descendants in 2011 for which she won Best Supporting Actress at the Independent Spirit Awards, but took two years out before picking her next role in the critically acclaimed Sundance Film Festival winner The Spectacular Now.
Speaking to Teen Vogue, Shailene says: "I didn’t do a movie for two years because I didn’t read anything that was inspiring to me.”“Everybody was like, ‘You’ve got to ride the wave!’ And I was like, ‘You ride the wave and it eventually crashes on the shore. That doesn’t work out! I’m going to just sit here and paddleboard'," she said.After Divergent is released on 4 April, Shailene will also be promoting New York Times bestselling author John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars and Gregg Araki’s thriller White Bird in a Blizzard with Eva Green.