How Kristen Bell Overcame Her Inferiority Complex
Kristen Bell might star in one of the fall's most anticipated returning shows, NBC's The Good Place. But even she deals with normal-people problems-and one of them might surprise you.
“I walk into every room feeling inferior,” she said at the Women Making History Awards in Los Angeles, where she was being honored on Saturday, along with Kathy Bates, Gabrielle Union, and activist Patrisse Cullors.
If you're wondering how even a smart, funny, successful, famous woman like Bell could think of herself that way, the actress said that part of it comes from being physically small. But she’s learned how to tune the noise out with the help of one very well known historical feminist: Eleanor Roosevelt, whom Bell says she looks to all the time. “And by ‘look to,’ I mean I punch ‘Eleanor Roosevelt quotes’ into Google,” she joked.
In her searches, Bell found some useful words from the late First Lady, and we’re taking note.
“She said, ‘No one can make you feel inferior without your consent,’” Bell said. “Think about that for a second. No one can make you feel inferior unless you consent. I read that ten years ago, and I think about it every single day.”
In line with Roosevelt's wisdom, Bell says she was able to overcome those feelings of inferiority: “I just stopped consenting.” These days, she says she feels capable, “or I at least try.”
She’s also making sure to bring up her daughters, Lincoln and Delta, to be empowered girls with an understanding of just how much women can achieve. Not only do they know all about legendary feminist Gloria Steinem, but five-year-old Lincoln even has “Ruth Bader Ginsburg finger puppets,” Bell said.
It’s not just famous women who influence her daughters' understanding of being a woman who gets things done, either. Bell's sister-in-law, Carly, is a powerful example for them too. “She’s like a third parent,” the actress said. “They see a woman who has tenderly changed their diaper, and also a woman who can fully re-engineer the septic tank if it gets blocked. And they have all these tactile examples of women in their lives that they know are accomplishing things, and that just do not live inside a box.”
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