Actress Anya Taylor-Joy revealed she was bullied at school and grew up feeling she was “wrong”, which she believes is because her intensity and passion can be “frightening” for some people.
“The message I was getting at school was that everything about me was wrong. I think the way that I looked played into it, and then the extremes of my personality definitely played into it,” she told Britain’s GQ magazine’s Heroes issue.
“If I loved something, I loved something. I have no chill in any regard, and that can be frightening for people, I guess.”
The actress learned to “bury” herself as a defence mechanism in response to the bullying she faced.
“As a survival mechanism, you learn to be self-effacing and self-deprecating. You bury yourself before anybody else does,” she said.
“What I’m coming to understand is: as long as you’re not causing anyone else harm, you have to stand your ground.”
The 28-year-old actress has developed a “reputation for fighting for feminine rage,” reports femalefirst.co.uk.
“How do I say this? I’ve developed a bit of a reputation for fighting for feminine rage, which is a strange thing because I’m not promoting violence — but I am promoting women being seen as people. We have reactions that are not always dainty or unmessy,” she said.