An unfiltered perspective. Anna Kendrick has kept her love life relatively private, but she hasn’t shied away from sharing advice about relationships.
The Pitch Perfect actress gave a lighthearted take on finding Mr. Right after playing Cinderella in 2014’s Into the Woods with Chris Pine as her prince. “The wrong kind of guy to fall in love with is the guy who will let go of the steering wheel as a joke,” she said in the February 2015 issue of Fashion magazine. “A guy who finds it amusing to make you uncomfortable — which is more common than you’d think — is someone you want to avoid.”
Over the years, Kendrick attempted to stay under the radar when it came to her own relationships. She dated Scott Pilgrim vs. The World director Edgar Wright from 2009 to 2013, later moving on with British cinematographer Ben Richardson. The twosome were together for six years before calling it quits in 2020.
Us Weekly confirmed in January 2022 that the Twilight star sparked a romance with Bill Hader, with whom she appeared in the holiday movie Noelle. Six months later, however, their flame fizzled out.
Following her whirlwind romance with Hader, Kendrick began to shed more light on her dating history — even the less-than-stellar experiences. During a December 2022 interview with the Los Angeles Times, the Love Life alum reflected on surviving an emotionally abusive relationship.
“You don’t have to believe that it might get physical for you to feel like you’re allowed to leave, that you deserve to be treated better, deserve to feel safe,” she said at the time, confessing that it took time for her to realize the situation she was in qualified as abuse.
Kendrick also noted that her personal experience helped her get into character for the film Alice, Darling, in which she plays a woman grappling with leaving an abusive relationship.
The Oscar nominee continued to detail her past during an eye-opening interview on the “Armchair Expert” podcast, discussing when she realized a six-year relationship had reached a breaking point. While she didn’t identify the ex in question, Kendrick revealed that she had created embryos with her former partner.
The difficult breakup prompted Kendrick to pursue therapy and attend Al-Anon meetings. According to the “Cups” performer, she uncovered the “capital-T truth” about her ex being unfaithful — and reached out to the woman with whom he cheated.
“[I told her], ‘I don’t know why we would ever be in a room together, but if we were I just kind of need you to know. If I were you I wouldn’t want to talk to me, but if you ever wanted to talk I’m more than willing,’” Kendrick recalled in January 2023. “To her eternal credit, she was like, ‘Yes, can I call you?’ We talked on the phone for about an hour and she was just like, ‘I’m so embarrassed and I’m so sorry. This was a mistake.’”
The conversation was a source of closure for the Emmy nominee. “My whole body just went, ‘You can grieve. You’re not crazy. You’re safe. You can grieve. You can eat nachos. You can have a glass of wine,’” she said. “It was like my whole body got whatever it needed. It at least stopped that total panicked state that I’d kind of been in for a year.”
Scroll down to relive Kendrick’s most honest quotes — and unexpected advice — about dating:
An unfiltered perspective. Anna Kendrick has kept her love life relatively private, but she hasn’t shied away from sharing advice about relationships.
The Pitch Perfect actress gave a lighthearted take on finding Mr. Right after playing Cinderella in 2014’s Into the Woods with Chris Pine as her prince. “The wrong kind of guy to fall in love with is the guy who will let go of the steering wheel as a joke,” she said in the February 2015 issue of Fashion magazine. “A guy who finds it amusing to make you uncomfortable — which is more common than you’d think — is someone you want to avoid.”
Over the years, Kendrick attempted to stay under the radar when it came to her own relationships. She dated Scott Pilgrim vs. The World director Edgar Wright from 2009 to 2013, later moving on with British cinematographer Ben Richardson. The twosome were together for six years before calling it quits in 2020.
Us Weekly confirmed in January 2022 that the Twilight star sparked a romance with Bill Hader, with whom she appeared in the holiday movie Noelle. Six months later, however, their flame fizzled out.
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Following her whirlwind romance with Hader, Kendrick began to shed more light on her dating history — even the less-than-stellar experiences. During a December 2022 interview with the Los Angeles Times, the Love Life alum reflected on surviving an emotionally abusive relationship.
“You don’t have to believe that it might get physical for you to feel like you’re allowed to leave, that you deserve to be treated better, deserve to feel safe,” she said at the time, confessing that it took time for her to realize the situation she was in qualified as abuse.
Kendrick also noted that her personal experience helped her get into character for the film Alice, Darling, in which she plays a woman grappling with leaving an abusive relationship.
The Oscar nominee continued to detail her past during an eye-opening interview on the “Armchair Expert” podcast, discussing when she realized a six-year relationship had reached a breaking point. While she didn’t identify the ex in question, Kendrick revealed that she had created embryos with her former partner.
The difficult breakup prompted Kendrick to pursue therapy and attend Al-Anon meetings. According to the “Cups” performer, she uncovered the “capital-T truth” about her ex being unfaithful — and reached out to the woman with whom he cheated.
“[I told her], ‘I don’t know why we would ever be in a room together, but if we were I just kind of need you to know. If I were you I wouldn’t want to talk to me, but if you ever wanted to talk I’m more than willing,'” Kendrick recalled in January 2023. “To her eternal credit, she was like, ‘Yes, can I call you?’ We talked on the phone for about an hour and she was just like, ‘I’m so embarrassed and I’m so sorry. This was a mistake.'”
The conversation was a source of closure for the Emmy nominee. “My whole body just went, ‘You can grieve. You’re not crazy. You’re safe. You can grieve. You can eat nachos. You can have a glass of wine,'” she said. “It was like my whole body got whatever it needed. It at least stopped that total panicked state that I’d kind of been in for a year.”
Scroll down to relive Kendrick’s most honest quotes — and unexpected advice — about dating:
Credit: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP/Shutterstock
January 2023
Kendrick reflected on splitting from someone who was “for all intents and purposes my husband” six years into their relationship. “We had embryos together, this was my person,” she said on the “Armchair Expert” podcast, recalling the moment she knew something didn’t feel right. “I remember telling my brother, when things had first kind of gone down, ‘I’m living with a stranger. Like, I don’t know what’s happening.’ It wasn’t just, ‘Oh, I’m losing a relationship.’ It was that I believed that if we broke up or, you know, if he left basically, it was a confirmation that it’s because I’m impossible. I’m lucky that he’s even tolerating my bulls–t.”
Credit: Arthur Mola/Invision/AP/Shutterstock
January 2023
During her “Armchair Expert” appearance, the Tony nominee remembered how she discovered the “capital-T truth” about her former partner’s infidelity. “[I] was exposed to [a] year-long text exchange and went, ‘Oh, I was right about everything. Oh, OK.’ It was actually way worse than I even thought,” she confessed, claiming that her ex called her “insecure” about the alleged affair. “I ended up emailing this young woman and saying, ‘I just think it’s fair that you know that I know. I don’t put this at your doorstep. You made a mistake, but you’re 25. We’ve all done stupid s–t. I very much lay this at his doorstep.'”
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December 2022
While working on her movie Alice, Darling, Kendrick realized she had more in common with her character than she anticipated. She told the Los Angeles Times that she was gaslit into feeling like a “monster” by an ex. “That was a big part of my problem. ‘Well he never hit me, and I’m not really afraid that he’s going to hit me. How do I discern between normal conflict and abuse? Why is my body in so much fear all of the time?'” she noted of experiencing psychological abuse. “You don’t have to believe that it might get physical for you to feel like you’re allowed to leave, that you deserve to be treated better, deserve to feel safe.”
Credit: Hahn Lionel/ABACA/Shutterstock
November 2016
Kendrick divulged her biggest dating mistakes and desires in her book Scrappy Little Nobody. “It’s not that deep down I want someone to ‘take care of me,'” she wrote. “It’s that I’m exhausted, and occasionally overwhelmed by self-doubt. I’m steering the ship, but I don’t know what I’m doing. None of us do. But it would be so nice to believe that someone out there did, and that maybe they could take the wheel for a little while.”
Credit: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP/Shutterstock
April 2016
The Broadway vet poked fun at her then-single status in a tweet that turned oddly steamy. “Hi, I’m Anna, I’m alone tonight and I’m looking for a strapping man to come over because butternut squash is hard to dice,” she wrote at the time.
Kendrick later explained her humorous post, telling People: “I just thought it would be funny to start a tweet really sexual and end it on something really practical.”
Credit: NEIL HALL/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
January 2015
“The idea that Cinderella gets cheated on by her prince is the most twisted and genius concept,” the Maine native, who played Cinderella in the film adaptation of Into the Woods, told Fashion magazine. “The wrong kind of guy to fall in love with is the guy who will let go of the steering wheel as a joke. A guy who finds it amusing to make you uncomfortable — which is more common than you’d think — is someone you want to avoid.”
In the same interview, Kendrick revealed what she learned from her parents’ divorce. “They taught me that staying together for the kids is the wrong approach. It perpetuates this warped idea of what a healthy relationship looks like,” she said.
Credit: Arthur Mola/Invision/AP/Shutterstock
November 2014
Kendrick joked about setting her standards a little out of reach. “That’s my dream. Absolutely. A prince, or a professional athlete,” she told the Daily Beast. “I just worked with the Green Bay Packers, actually, so I’m gettin’ into that world. I’m puttin’ out feelers. Somebody just take care of me! I hate my job. … Somebody please just take care of me.”
Credit: Greg Allen/Invision/AP/Shutterstock
August 2013
“Two subjects to never bring up on a first date are anything to do with the actual reality of your family and, you know, liver cancer and how we’ve all probably got it,” the Drinking Buddies star teased during an interview with GQ, before recalling one of the best first dates she’d been on. “One of my favorite first dates, the guy was mad at me because I’d never tried Del Taco, I think? So we went to the drive-thru of Del Taco, and it was super cute. If you can make Del Taco romantic, then you’ve got a good thing going.”
Credit: Hahn Lionel/ABACA/Shutterstock
March 2013
“If I were a contestant on The Bachelor I’d just end up falling in love with the weird sound guy and making things uncomfortable for everyone,” the actress quipped via Twitter.
