Why does Jennifer Connolly keep saying in interviews that living in the same neighborhood where you grew up makes you a loser?
The Saint Ann’s grad was quoted once again, this time in New York Magazine, that she feels funny about moving back to Park Slope. "I remember looking at people. thinking, ‘He’s in the same neighborhood, what a loser.’ Now I ask myself, ‘I’m not a failure, right?’"
Yeah, Jen. Only losers can afford to buy a gazillion dollar limestone mansion. You’ve got one of the nicest properties on the park.
Connolly told Vogue Magazine last year that, in addition to feeling funny about living here, it takes her forever to actually do any decorating. Well, it looks to me like she is finally getting around to it, Her windows are now covered with white paper (or are those shades?) and I just have the feeling that a mucho dollar renovation is going on. Maybe she is finally buying furniture.
Connolly has real Park Slope roots even if they embarass her. After St. Ann’s and college, she lived in a tiny studio apartment in the West Village for years and years (anywhere but Brooklyn). After winning the Oscar, the poor girl had to schlepp back out to the nabe with two children and the impossibly tall and handsome Paul Bettany (also from "Beautiful Mind") to inhabit a mansion most people would die for.
I’ve never seen Jennifer in the neighborhood. At first I was excited that she was living here ("Ooh that beautiful actress from "Beautiful Mind" is living here now," I said more than once). I read in Vogue that she jogs in the Prospect Park and rides her bicycle. I figured one of these days I’d see her out there sleekly running our 3.2 mile loop.
But unlike our beloved, Steve Buscemi, who is a real member of this community, Jen probabaly spends most of her time elsewhere (i.e. taking her kids to, you guessed it, Saint Ann’s in Brooklyn Heights, and doing whatever it is off-duty Oscar-winning actresses do in Manhattan).
For her, Park Slope is strictly a bedroom community. She wouldn’t be caught dead on Seventh Avenue. Her childhood friends might think she’s a loser or something.
But really, I don’t think she needs to feel bad about being a returnee. Coming back to the community that you grew up in can be construed as a real compliment to the place. I often wonder if my kids will want to flee their childhood home or stick around. My son used to say he wanted to live here forever – but he may be growing out of that. Everyone needs to spread their wings and fly, see the world, explore a little.
Returning to Park Slope would not be a sign of loserdom. It would actually be a sign of good taste: an appreciation of the scale, the sense of community, the tree-lined streets.
And the houses are real nice, too.
Note: the house in Hugh Crawford’s picture above is NOT Jennifer and Paul’s.
You guys are the information santa for any stalker out there. I hope all the celebs pack heat.
To Brooklyn Vegan, I do not consider walking past a house and “glancing” at the windows, stalking. Do you? In any case, I’m with Jason Graham, I felt very excited when Jen & company moved back to the slope. It’s all good for the neighborhood. I do hope they stay…
Just a thought about “tar beach”. We have a friend who called his tenement “sun deck” Roof Hampton.
AB
and to commenter “mamainwaiting”…
” I have never, ever seen them through the windows when they had those ratty old sheers”
“Perhaps there were some stalkers lurking, I don’t know”
You don’t?
I was sitting on a stoop on 8th ave between 9th and 10 once and she walked by with husband and baby stroller. It was one of my only “celebrity going about their normal life” sightings. Definitely pretty cool.
Some friends have mentioned seeing her at other times too – on 7th and elsewhere.
My wife and I actually have seen them quite a bit. Same schedules, I guess. We think it’s nifty to have such a talent in the neighborhood. It’s all good in the hood.
My wife and I have seen both her and Paul several times at the playground. The last time she was there alone with her son. She was sitting in the sandbox at the 9th Street playground with him, just like any other Park Slope mommy.
The first time we saw them, at the Garfield Tot Lot, I thought: “who’s this big good lookin’ guy crawling around between people’s legs after his kid? He’s got an accent. Oh holy crap, that’s Paul Bettany.” He was crawling around after little Stellan, having a high old time. Stellan and my son rolled a ball back and forth a bit between them, and Paul and I had a lovely chat about their names and ages. Jennifer was with a friend on the benches.
I’m surprised you haven’t seen them, but that doesn’t mean they’re not there to be seen. I think it’s extraordinarily hasty to say she/they “wouldn’t be caught dead.”
Your site is an excellent resource and usually such a warm example of what we love about the neighborhood, it’s a shame to see you fall so far into the snarkpit.
I’m with the fox – I don’t think they live there. I have never, ever seen them through the windows when they had those ratty old sheers in herited from the previous owners – Also, the lights are on all the time upstairs, which suggests they are trying to make it seem that someone is home – They have removed (finally) those curtains and put in shades – Perhaps there were some stalkers lurking, I don’t know. I’m sorry she feels like such a loser. It’s a shame.
Your post contains such hostility. You should know better than to believe everything you read. She may have made the offending comments, but they may have been takin out of context. Give the girl a break. Just because she’s a famous, award-winning actress with a beautiful (and very expensive) home within proxmity to your dwelling you see fit to launch into a tirade. Jealously is a nasty emotion.
I’ve seen her and her impossibly handsome husband. Seen them on the train and in the street. Their house is my favorite. When I saw someone was moving in (not realizing it was a couple of celebs) I actually was heartbroken and said, “I didn’t even know it was for sale!” As if! Meanwhile, the former residents took great, great care of their garden (or paid someone to do it). It was always immaculate and at every point in the season sprouting something new and beautiful. The pots on the stoop always had something lovely in them–even in the dead of winter. My favorite part was that they had an apple tree–a real apple tree–on the 2nd floor balcony in the front of the house. Every fall there’d be apples up there. Amazing. But Jen and Paul don’t seem to be real interested in all that. The last folks are a tough act to follow so it’s distrubing to those of us who continue to wait to see some improvement in their garden care. My theory: They are never home so they don’t bother. Maybe that’s my rationalization for the whole thing but it’s the only thing that makes sense to me. Man, I’m such a looky-lou. But aren’t we all?