Allison Williams On Going Blonde: Her Friends Don't Even Recognize Her

Anyone who’s dreamed of hiding in plain sight, just call Allison Williams.

The star of Girls, who plays controlling, tightly-wound, Oxycontin-stomping Marnie on the HBO series (now in its final season), just went blond. And now, she’s a newcomer in her own life.

“People don’t know who I am yet. People who I’ve known for a long time don’t recognize me. It’s a fun reveal,” she tells Yahoo Style. “I like it. I’m still learning how to care for it. It feels so different. I tried to prepare myself for that. It’s weird. I can’t brush it out of the shower without thinking about it.”

The reason for the transformation was aesthetic. “I did for the Allure cover. And it was a way to reset — to trick myself into accepting the conclusion of Girls and that I’m not Marnie anymore. It’s a way to rewire things. Now when I look in the mirror, I see some other version of myself that has nothing visually in common with Marnie. It turns into a whole conversation. It’s very funny,” says Williams, 28.

Equally, and smartly, entertaining is the horror comedy Get Out, in which Williams plays the daughter of “good” liberals who don’t mind that she’s bringing an African-American man home for dinner. The film, directed by Jordan Peele, instantly clicked with Williams.

“I felt really lucky to be it. I instantly felt really protective of Rose and I didn’t want anyone else to play her. I started thinking about her immediately. I was who Jordan pictured in the role,” she says.

Now, she’s mourning Marnie, while simultaneously excited to see what’s next. Williams is busy writing her own stuff: “I really like this feeling of being the master of my own destiny. It puts me in a place to be really creative.”

The Yale graduate, and proud mom to her rescue dog, Moxie (with husband Ricky Van Veen, the co-founder of CollegeHumor), is also incredibly passionate about the Horizons National organization, which provides six-week-long summer enrichment programs for low-income kids. Williams manages an elaborate fundraiser every year, and everyone who contributes gets a personal thank you note.

And for those familiar with Williams’ other extracurricular pursuits, the actress is a dedicated, passionate, and very well-informed viewer of the Bachelor and Bachelorette franchises. So it begs the question: Now that she doesn’t have the Girls schedule holding her back, could she envision herself as the next Bachelorette — assuming her husband wouldn’t mind, of course. After all, the two met at a Bachelor viewing party.

This question does not stymie Williams.

“I’ve spent many hours thinking about this. My conclusion is that I probably wouldn’t. I know too much. I’ve spent too much time thinking about the show. I’d break the fourth wall constantly. Or I would over-perform and that wouldn’t quite work. I found something I wrote when I was 22, right around when I met my husband before we were officially dating, comparing (Bachelor) Brad Womack to Hamlet. I’m blown away by the amount of detail I included.”

Perhaps in the works, a Girls movie at some point in the future, with the entire cast back together, along with star and co-creator Lena Dunham.

“I am so there (for a movie). I have to know what happens to them over time,” she says. “It’s really emotional right now. I can’t see the silver linings very clearly. Lena and I were discussing silver linings. We now have summers. It’s a very reluctant silver lining. It’s very strange.”

Read More:
‘Girls’ Style Throwback: Lena, Allison, Jemima and Zosia Then and Now
Lena Dunham on Why Her Weight Has Never Been Her ‘Crisis Point …

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