When it comes to dating, Shailene Woodley would rather be excluded from this narrative. In a new interview with InStyle alongside her Big Little Lies co-stars Reese Witherspoon, Zoë Kravitz, Laura Dern and Nicole Kidman, the Adrift actress revealed that she’s not exactly enjoying the dating scene these days.
In the new interview (available via People) Woodley got real about the struggles of connecting with another human, telling the magazine what anyone who had to come up with clever introductions on Bumble knows to be all too true: Dating is hard.
However, Woodley noted that not all parts of intimacy are a struggle for her.
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"I mean, I love sex," Woodley explained to InStyle. "I love the power of emotional connection via physicality. Who doesn’t? But now I’m only interested in those unexpected impactful connections."
She told the magazine that "love is scary," and that finding that special someone can feel nearly impossible.
"Recently I was speaking with a friend, and we were like, ‘When was the last time you met someone and had the ability to say, ‘I’m so attracted to you. I think your mind stimulates my mind in ways I can’t explain. Creatively, I’m feeling a 10. Physically, I can’t wait to know what you feel like. And you scare the shit out of me’?'" she added.
That's not to say Woodley hasn't found someone special in the past. In 2018, the environmental activist went Instagram official with rugby player Ben Volavola, though it is unclear if the two are still dating. The pair reportedly began seeing each other in fall of 2017.
Woodley has made it clear that whether she has a partner or not, she's perfectly content being her independent self.
"Partnership should not take away from your life, it should add to your life, right? When I was 18 I became my own best friend and I went on a quest to get to know me and figure out who I was, and what I wanted and in that I found a lot of happiness and I found a lot of ways to be centered," Woodley told The Telegraph in 2015.
Woodley may detest dating in real life, but her Big Little Lies character could find herself involved in a new romance. Corey Brockfield is set to play a marine biologist and surfer who works with Woodley's character Jane.