Anna Kendrick Puts Abusive Ex-Boyfriend on Blast in ‘Alice, Darling’

American actress and singer Anna Kendrick has opened up about how her experience in an abusive relationship influenced her leading role in her recent film Alice, Darling.

The story of Alice Darling revolves around a young woman trapped in a relationship with her toxic boyfriend, which becomes an unwitting participant in an intervention staged by her two closest friends.

Kendrick can relate to her character in the movie because she went through a similar situation. The actress recently opened up about her previous toxic relationship. She discussed how being in such a relationship causes so much self-doubt that she questions her reality.

She said, “He’s so convinced that I am a monster that I can’t see how I am not.” The Alice, Darling actress described her former relationship, “I was in a situation where I loved and trusted this person more than I trusted myself.”

“So when that person is telling you that you have a distorted sense of reality and that you are impossible and that all the stuff you think is going on is not going on, your life gets confusing quickly.”

She added, “And I was in a situation where, at the end, I had the unique experience of finding out that everything I thought was going on was in fact going on. So I had this kind of springboard for feeling and recovery that a lot of people don’t get.”

Later, Kendrick came to the conclusion that no one should stay in a relationship with an abusive boyfriend, even if there is no physical abuse. She now thinks everyone deserves to be loved and feel safe with their life partner.

Anna Kendrick relates her character in ‘Alice, Darling’ to her real-life relationship

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Kendrick discussed how her previous relationship influenced her portrayal in the film.

Alice, Darling was Kendrick’s first project that was so personal to her. She said, “Usually, it’s just I read a good script, and I like the people involved, and I make the movie. But it was really surprising timing that we found this script at that moment in my life.” 

Anna Kendrick has a personal connection to her ‘Alice, Darling’ character. (Source: Twitter)

The actress described her experience in the film, saying, “I remember my first Zoom meeting with Mary Nighy, the director, disclosing to her what I was going through. And I even said to her, this all happened very recently.”

“In fact, it happened so recently that if the movie was shooting in a month, I probably shouldn’t do it.’ But it was many, many months away. So I wasn’t in danger of re-traumatizing myself. But yeah, it’s certainly a unique experience.”

Moreover, the filming process allowed Kendrick to connect her personal experiences with the themes of Alice, Darling, which she admits was extremely cathartic.

She stated that the most therapeutic aspect of the entire journey in the film was actually building relationships with the collaborators, sharing each other’s personal histories, and then working together to create amazing movies like Alice, Darling.

While the film is about an abusive relationship, the actress also mentioned that it touches on the power of friendship, which helped her recover from her own tumultuous relationship.