Nina Dobrev touches on two very important topics in the latest issue of Harper’s Bazaar:
1. Her departure from The Vampire Diaries.
2. The Presidency of Donald Trump.
Because you may be a little sick of the latter, we’ll start with the former.
Dobrev rose to significant fame and fortune by portraying Elena Gilbert on the aforementioned CW hit, a role and a series that provided the star with a high salary and a loyal fan base.
Which is why fans were taken aback when she announced she was leaving the drama after Season 6.
Did the exit have anything to do with how awkward it would have been to continue working alongside ex-boyfriend Ian Somerhalder?
Especially after he started dating (and eventually married) Nikki Reed?
God, no, Dobrev tells Harper’s Bazaar.
“That was the plan from the get-go,” Dobrev explains of saying goodbye after six seasons.
“If anything, the fact that [leaving] terrified me drove me even more.”
Many actors or actress would never take this sort of risk, of course.
They’d be too afraid of what might come next after such a successful run… or what might NOT come next, to be more accurate.
“I needed to feel that fear of ‘Oh, my God, what if I never get a job again?"” Dobrev says. “That just made me want to work five times as hard to make sure that didn’t happen.”
Dobrev hasn’t been prominently featured in any show or movie since leaving The Vampire Diaries, but says she’s simply been “picky” in deciding what jobs to take.
“The things I want to do aren’t necessarily the things that are expected of me,” she expounds, adding:
“I don’t want to play a teenager anymore. I want to play adult roles and be challenged and work with great filmmakers and tell incredible stories, and that has meant being really picky.”
Okay, now it’s time to talk about Trump. Are you ready?
The actress was born in Bulgaria and moved to Canada when she was two years old.
She tells the publication of Trump’s rhetoric and bans on immigration:
“I come from an immigrant family, and I think it’s unacceptable to treat anyone like that… Hopefully he’ll get impeached. Or indicted. Or both. He just doesn’t act like a president.
“He acts like a reality star on a terrible, horrible show that should never be aired.”
Dobrev has many opinions on the Commander-in-Chief, but she hasn’t posted anything political on social media since late July.
She’s trying to bite her tongue, but it isn’t easy.
“He’s responsible for incredibly important decisions for the country that I live in, so my opinion does matter whether or not I had a chance to vote,” she says, addressing anyone who thinks she ought to shut up on Twitter:
“Whenever I did one of those posts, I was inundated with negative comments, some of the most horrific things I’ve ever seen written.
“But I’m entitled to my opinion, and if you don’t want to see the things I’m saying, don’t follow me.”
It really is that simple.