Shailene Woodley & Brie Larson Open Up About Friendship, Feminism & Fame

For all of you who want to be BFF's with Shailene Woodley, we have some bad news: She already has one.

The Fault in Our Stars actress graces the cover of New York magazine's latest issue with her real life bestie Brie Larson, who she met while filming The Spectacular Now.

“When Shai and I met each other, it was boom! We understood each other instantly," Larson tells Lynn Hirschberg, who conducted the revealing interview with the two stars. "We’re the lighthouse for each other: the beam that stays focused and guides you home.”

Woodley and Larson are in very similar places in their careers, with both having a breakout year; Woodley for her star turn in Divergent, and Larson for her gutsy performance in the indie hit Short Term 12.

“Together, we are able to refine our ideas," Woodley said of her fast friendship with Larson. "In the past, we would talk about how people told us that if we wanted ‘success,’ we’d have to dress a certain way, act a certain way. Brie and I always felt different, and, suddenly, when we met, that was okay. In fact, it was great.”

Over the last year, Woodley has established herself as one of Hollywood's most outspoken young stars. In a recent interview with TIME magazine, she revealed that she doesn't consider herself a feminist because she loves men, and thinks "the idea of ‘raise women to power, take the men away from the power’ is never going to work out because you need balance."

But, just because Woodley refuses to align herself with a movement doesn't mean she doesn't subscribe to many of its ideals. The actress has been dealing with constant comparisons to another outspoken young star, and feels that it's a detrimental line of thought.

"As women, we are constantly told that we need to compare ourselves to a girl in school, to our co-workers, to the images in a magazine. How is the world going to advance if we’re always comparing ourselves to others," she asks Hirschberg. "I admire Jennifer Lawrence, but she’s everyone’s favorite person to compare me to. Is it because we both have short hair and a vagina? I see us as separate individuals. And that’s important. As women, our insecurities are based on all these comparisons. And that creates distress.”

Woodley certainly is an individual, which she's made clear by detailing a grassroots lifestyle that includes nomadic couch-surfing and life without a cell phone. In Larson, it appears she's found a kindred spirit. "They are throwbacks to a less technological time: Neither is active in social media, preferring older modes,” Hirschberg writes.

And, perhaps because we probably won't see the pair in any Instagram selfies, we'll have to make due with the article's accompanying photos. “We wanted to make defining portraits of these ingénues at these pivotal moments in their careers," says New York photography director Jody Quon. "And to also make these classic and timeless pictures -- defined by their spirit, and heightened by Norman Jean Roy's use of black and white film.”

"Girls in this industry sabotage one another," Larson added. "We will never do that.” (New York Magazine)