She’s won everything from an Oscar (for Silver Linings Playbook) to a BAFTA (for American Hustle) to multiple Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild Awards (for Joy, American Hustle, Silver Linings Playbook), so it’s safe to say that Jennifer Lawrence’s acting career to date has been wildly successful. And she’s only 27.
But one thing most people don’t know about the star is this: J-Law dropped out of high school when she was just 14 years old.
Speaking to 60 Minutes, Lawrence explains that she was so hellbent on pursuing acting that everything else felt like a waste of time.
“I found what I wanted to do, and I didn’t want anything getting in the way of it,” she says. “Even friends, for many years, were not as important to me as my career.”
“I struggled through school. I never felt very smart. And when I’m reading the script and I feel like I know exactly what it would look like if somebody felt that way, that was the whole part of my brain that I didn’t even know existed—something that I could be confident in and I didn’t want to let it go,” she explains.
Thankfully for everyone who loved Silver Linings, her parents – after much convincing – allowed Lawrence to drop out of school. And luckily for her, the decision more than paid off.
