When I first heard Kate Beckinsale was going to be a face of a skincare brand that uses blue scorpion venom in its products, I was intrigued and also a little freaked out. But take one look at Beckinsale’s background — and her social media — and you know she 1) wouldn’t hurt an animal and 2) doesn’t partner with many beauty brands. So, for Beckinsale to work with MRVL Skincare, there had to be something to it. It turns out, there is and the story of how this skincare came to be is pretty fascinating. As is Beckinsale’s thoughts on why people are so concerned about women asserting their intelligence.

First, let’s get to the beauty products. MRVL Skincare was founded by entrepreneur Rick Langley who is also the founder of the world’s largest Blue Scorpion farm. These types of scorpions don’t have dangerous venom, so there are no concerns there. Langley developed what he calls Blue Scorpion Peptide (BSP) that he promises helps to stimulate natural collagen production, fight free radicals, help regenerate symptoms of damaged skin and smooth the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. The first batch of products is out today on the brand’s website.

I sat down with Beckinsale to find out her must-have items in the line and how she really feels about all that IQ backlash.

How She Got Involved With MRVL Skincare

Beckinsale was happy to become a spokesperson for MRVL Skincare because, well, the products just worked for her, something she says is most important when she’s going to be supporting a brand. “They sent me some of them, and they were such nice products and I really liked what they did to my skin,” she says. And when we learned the photoshoot was going to be in Turks and Caicos with dogs, the animal-rights activist was all in.

Of course, she made sure the Blue Scorpions aren’t hurt when “milked” for their venom, something I asked Langley as well. “I don’t want that to be involved with something that’s not kind,” she says. “But then also once I met them, I’m like, these last people to hurt an animal.” In fact, it was that Langley is also an animal-lover that attracted Beckinsale to the project.

Her Must-Have Products

Beckinsale likes to keep her routine pretty simple with an oil cleanser to remove makeup. As of late, she’s adding in her favorite MRVL Skincare products, too. “I really am a massive fan of the retinol cream particularly,” she says of the Retinol Repair Night Cream that contains combines retinol with the BSP. She uses it a few times a week but applies the Super Rich Eye Cream every day. When her skin is feeling dry and sensitive, she incorporates the calming, rich Arnica Recovery Cream.

MRVL Skincare.

How Her Cats Feel About Dressing Up

Switching gears, I have to ask Beckinsale about the cats on her Instagram always dressed up in the type of outfits my own cat would murder me for putting on her. Her cats are incredibly chill about it. “Well, Clive, the older one is 17. He actually really enjoys an outfit and he’s got certain things he just likes,” she says. “He loves tule and he loves ribbon and he’s really predictable. We adopted Willow from somebody else who couldn’t take care of her. She was kind of skittish and not the sort of cat that’s wanting to wear a pair of pajamas. But actually the longer she’s been with us, she’s like, I guess that’s how it is around here.”

Source: Instagram

Why She Thinks People Have Trouble With Intelligent Women

This past October, Beckinsale was a guest on Howard Stern’s SiriusXM radio show, when the host pressed her for her IQ. She called her mother to find out and revealed it to be 152, which is considered to be “highly gifted.” She told Stern that having a high IQ wasn’t “helpful” to her in Hollywood, saying, “I just think it might be a handicap, actually.” This led to numerous headlines criticizing the actor for “bragging” about her intelligence.

“If I was bragging, I would have said it earlier than this,” she tells me. “This would be a thing that I would have mentioned. It’s not something I think about, it’s not something I think is a particularly good marker of intelligence. Actually, I don’t think it’s that relevant.” She says she was just asked so she answered the question. “I think women if you say ‘I’m intelligent,’ or ‘I’m anything,’ frankly, it’s immediately bragging even it’s just a fact,” she continues.

Beckinsale took to her Instagram to express her frustration with the response. She sites studies that show girls often “play dumb” with boys to appear more feminine. Growing up in an all-girls school, Beckinsale didn’t have this experience. She might not have felt confident physically but she knew she was smart — and wasn’t taught to hide it. “I did not grow up feeling particularly confident about what I looked like,” she says. “I was very short and my feet grew to this same size they are now. I wasn’t one of these kids that had an amazing middle school time. That still doesn’t feel like my big strength. But I’ve never ever had to feel like I’m not smart.”

Source: Instagram

How She Feels About the Backlash

“Once I started thinking about it after this whole thing came up, finding all these articles about women dumbing themselves down and women, especially on dates, dumbing themselves down and thinking ‘God, this was just sorry,’” she says. “This says more about men actually, you know. But having said that, a lot of the people who jumped on me were women. I think people, in general, don’t like a woman to take up too much space. I don’t agree with that.”

We talk about how things women like are often seen as silly or frivolous as if being into skincare or cats has anything to do with how smart you are. (It doesn’t.) “I tend to throw a cat [into photos] just to make it more fun,” she says. “And people will go ‘oh, well, this really shows your IQ.’  No, because if you’re smart, you don’t have to be going on about it all the time. You can put a fedora on a cat and still be smart.”

Amen.

When I first heard Kate Beckinsale was going to be a face of a skincare brand that uses blue scorpion venom in its products, I was intrigued and also a little freaked out. But take one look at Beckinsale’s background — and her social media — and you know she 1) wouldn’t hurt an animal and 2) doesn’t partner with many beauty brands. So, for Beckinsale to work with MRVL Skincare, there had to be something to it. It turns out, there is and the story of how this skincare came to be is pretty fascinating. As is Beckinsale’s thoughts on why people are so concerned about women asserting their intelligence.

First, let’s get to the beauty products. MRVL Skincare was founded by entrepreneur Rick Langley who is also the founder of the world’s largest Blue Scorpion farm. These types of scorpions don’t have dangerous venom, so there are no concerns there. Langley developed what he calls Blue Scorpion Peptide (BSP) that he promises helps to stimulate natural collagen production, fight free radicals, help regenerate symptoms of damaged skin and smooth the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. The first batch of products is out today on the brand’s website.

I sat down with Beckinsale to find out her must-have items in the line and how she really feels about all that IQ backlash.

How She Got Involved With MRVL Skincare

Beckinsale was happy to become a spokesperson for MRVL Skincare because, well, the products just worked for her, something she says is most important when she’s going to be supporting a brand. “They sent me some of them, and they were such nice products and I really liked what they did to my skin,” she says. And when we learned the photoshoot was going to be in Turks and Caicos with dogs, the animal-rights activist was all in.

Of course, she made sure the Blue Scorpions aren’t hurt when “milked” for their venom, something I asked Langley as well. “I don’t want that to be involved with something that’s not kind,” she says. “But then also once I met them, I’m like, these last people to hurt an animal.” In fact, it was that Langley is also an animal-lover that attracted Beckinsale to the project.

Her Must-Have Products

Beckinsale likes to keep her routine pretty simple with an oil cleanser to remove makeup. As of late, she’s adding in her favorite MRVL Skincare products, too. “I really am a massive fan of the retinol cream particularly,” she says of the Retinol Repair Night Cream that contains combines retinol with the BSP. She uses it a few times a week but applies the Super Rich Eye Cream every day. When her skin is feeling dry and sensitive, she incorporates the calming, rich Arnica Recovery Cream.

MRVL Skincare.

How Her Cats Feel About Dressing Up

Switching gears, I have to ask Beckinsale about the cats on her Instagram always dressed up in the type of outfits my own cat would murder me for putting on her. Her cats are incredibly chill about it. “Well, Clive, the older one is 17. He actually really enjoys an outfit and he’s got certain things he just likes,” she says. “He loves tule and he loves ribbon and he’s really predictable. We adopted Willow from somebody else who couldn’t take care of her. She was kind of skittish and not the sort of cat that’s wanting to wear a pair of pajamas. But actually the longer she’s been with us, she’s like, I guess that’s how it is around here.”

Source: Instagram

Why She Thinks People Have Trouble With Intelligent Women

This past October, Beckinsale was a guest on Howard Stern’s SiriusXM radio show, when the host pressed her for her IQ. She called her mother to find out and revealed it to be 152, which is considered to be “highly gifted.” She told Stern that having a high IQ wasn’t “helpful” to her in Hollywood, saying, “I just think it might be a handicap, actually.” This led to numerous headlines criticizing the actor for “bragging” about her intelligence.

“If I was bragging, I would have said it earlier than this,” she tells me. “This would be a thing that I would have mentioned. It’s not something I think about, it’s not something I think is a particularly good marker of intelligence. Actually, I don’t think it’s that relevant.” She says she was just asked so she answered the question. “I think women if you say ‘I’m intelligent,’ or ‘I’m anything,’ frankly, it’s immediately bragging even it’s just a fact,” she continues.

Beckinsale took to her Instagram to express her frustration with the response. She sites studies that show girls often “play dumb” with boys to appear more feminine. Growing up in an all-girls school, Beckinsale didn’t have this experience. She might not have felt confident physically but she knew she was smart — and wasn’t taught to hide it. “I did not grow up feeling particularly confident about what I looked like,” she says. “I was very short and my feet grew to this same size they are now. I wasn’t one of these kids that had an amazing middle school time. That still doesn’t feel like my big strength. But I’ve never ever had to feel like I’m not smart.”

Source: Instagram

How She Feels About the Backlash

“Once I started thinking about it after this whole thing came up, finding all these articles about women dumbing themselves down and women, especially on dates, dumbing themselves down and thinking ‘God, this was just sorry,’” she says. “This says more about men actually, you know. But having said that, a lot of the people who jumped on me were women. I think people, in general, don’t like a woman to take up too much space. I don’t agree with that.”

We talk about how things women like are often seen as silly or frivolous as if being into skincare or cats has anything to do with how smart you are. (It doesn’t.) “I tend to throw a cat [into photos] just to make it more fun,” she says. “And people will go ‘oh, well, this really shows your IQ.’  No, because if you’re smart, you don’t have to be going on about it all the time. You can put a fedora on a cat and still be smart.”

Amen.

I come from a family of medical professionals. So, it’s no surprise that my belief and trust in the medical profession, and those who practice it, has always been high.

As a result, it may have been a little easier for me to see the human side of physicians. However, many, if not most, of our generation grew up believing that the doctors we saw on television shows such as Medical Center, Dr. Kildare and Marcus Welby, M.D. were the norm.

The Authority Behind the M.D.

They were authority figures to be listened to, obeyed, respected and never questioned. They knew best and always had our best interests at heart. We were to trust them unconditionally, even if that trust occasionally made us uncomfortable or was misplaced.

In fact, I remember a family friend once wondering aloud if her doctor – who had been treating her for 30 years – was giving her the best advice. When I suggested she question him about it, her response was, “I would never do that, he’s the doctor and I would not want to offend him.”

While trust is a critical element in every type of relationship, it is especially important in the doctor-patient relationship. When there is mutual trust, you feel more comfortable being open and honest with your doctor, which translates into better treatment plans and better treatment outcomes.

But should there be a limit to the amount of trust you place in your doctor? Should you ever question what your doctor tells you? The answer to both questions is a resounding “yes.”

Trust Should Not Be Blind

Luckily for us and for our families, this type of unquestioning obedience and belief in physicians is changing, and we boomers can, in many ways, take some credit for this. It’s no secret that we’re a lot different than our parents and our grandparents.

We tend to be better informed, more assertive and want to play a greater role in our healthcare. While this is great, it is also tempered by our commitment to a work ethic and world view that makes us want to stay with our doctor for all our medical needs.

We also tend to base a lot of our healthcare decisions on what we hear from people we trust – whether their opinions are truly best for us or not. Our responsibility to manage the healthcare of our aging parents also has contributed to our taking a more proactive role in healthcare decisions and treatments.

This change in our approach to healthcare in general requires a change in how we view the trust we place in our physicians.

I am not advocating, in any way, that we should stop trusting our physicians. This would be counterproductive and could both hurt our relationship with our doctors as well as negatively impact the outcome of any healthcare treatments we may need.

What I am saying is that trust in any person or institution should never be ‘blind’. That would be just plain foolish.

Create a Trust Partnership with Your Doctor

The approach I have taken is one of creating a ‘trust partnership’ that puts my doctor and me on more equal footing when it comes to my healthcare. How can you apply this to your own healthcare?

It’s actually very easy, although it may feel a little uncomfortable at first. Here are some things I have done which you might want to consider:

Read

Read the boring medical studies that pertain to your medical condition. Also read blogs and websites that make a point of using scientific evidence. Ask a statistics-savvy friend to help you interpret the studies.

Research

Your best defense is being educated on the matter. Do your research before your appointment.

Be Prepared for Your Visit

Organize your lab tests and notes from previous doctors. If the doctor has to spend the whole visit figuring out your medical history, you can bet that there won’t be an in-depth analysis on the merits of taking vitamin B12 shots versus gabapentin, for example.

Ask Specific Questions

Specific questions – like, “Do patients ever have long-term side effects from CT scan dye?” or “At my age, what are the possible risks of having general anesthesia?” – will convey your concerns more clearly and open up a discussion, as opposed to only saying, “I don’t want to do that.”

Instead of saying, “I don’t like prescription medications,” try being more specific, such as, “I’d really like to try taking yoga classes three times per week. If I still feel depressed, I will try the antidepressants.”

Let your doctor know what your plan is and why you’d like to try something else. This keeps the line of communication open.

Calm Down Excited Family Members

While it’s nice to have your spouse or parent there for support, listening to two people talk excitedly at once while trying to diagnose and take notes can be a headache for anyone. Take turns speaking, and give the doctor time to record what you are saying so it gets taken into account.

Take It All in Stride

Your doctor doesn’t want to insult you or brush you off. She’s simply giving a medical opinion. If that opinion flies in the face of everything you believe, seek a second opinion.

Keep Up Your End of the Bargain

Trust, in any relationship, is a two-way street. You can’t expect your doctor to make the effort to gain and keep your trust if you don’t do the same with them. Not doing so will not only erode your mutual trust but can impact your medical care.

The first thing you need to do is be honest with your doctor. A recent study showed that almost half of all Americans routinely decline to tell their physicians the whole truth about their health issues.

When it comes to questions about diet and fitness – two of the things that can most help us prevent or better manage disease – almost a third of all women are not truthful with their doctors.

Their reasons? The top two are embarrassment and a fear of being judged. If these are fears you also have, be honest with your doctor. Odds are, they can help you overcome these feelings.

You also need to follow your doctor’s guidance, especially when it comes to medications and your home-health care regimens. Not doing so may put your health at risk and decrease the amount of trust your doctor has in you.

If your doctor starts questioning everything you tell her, then the physician-patient relationship is on a very slippery slope. Additionally, if you are starting to feel uncomfortable with your doctor and/or your medical care, it’s important that you consider who it is you are not trusting any more.

Recent studies have shown that how you view your healthcare system, or your local hospital, can also impact how you feel about your doctor. So try to avoid falling into a situation of ‘guilt by association’ with your doctors.

When to Consider a Change

Sometimes, despite all your and your physician’s best efforts, you find yourself questioning more than trusting your doctor. In this case, you may want to consider changing your medical team. Some signs that it may be time to do so are when your doctor:

• Doesn’t seem to be really listening to you.
• Doesn’t seem to have time for you.
• Seems to show more interest in your symptoms than the cause.
• Seems more focused on getting you on medications than off them.
• Begins to make subjective assumptions about you and your life.
• Doesn’t seem to be up-to-date on new treatments.
• Is offended when you ask too many questions.
• Does not respect professional boundaries.

Partnering with your physician in your healthcare has been clearly shown to improve all aspects of healthcare, including treatment outcomes. You owe it to yourself to have the best relationship you can have with your doctor, and, as with other relationships in our lives, this will be based on mutual trust.

You owe it to yourself to ensure that trust is there.

What is your experience of partnering with your doctor? Do you trust everything they tell you or recommend you, or do you routinely question them? Have you ever challenged your doctor or sought out a second opinion? How did that go? Tell us about it. Please join the conversation.

While breast cancer screening is crucial for all women, it’s especially necessary for those women in their 60s and beyond. Along with early detection, there are preventative measures we can take to keep us healthy longer. One of the first places to implement prevention is in relation to our environment.

Environmental Toxins

Environmental toxins are an underrated and frequently overlooked cause of numerous chronic diseases.

Scientific studies draw a direct correlation between toxins in our bodies and neurological complaints, such as Alzheimer’s, dementia and neuropathies, in addition to diseases such as diabetes, depression, heart disease and even obesity. And cancer joins this list, too.

Longer Lives Mean Greater Exposure

In today’s world, bodily toxins are a fact of life. Unfortunately, it’s no longer a matter of if toxins are stored in our bodies, it’s a matter of how many have accumulated.

The daily, stealth attack toxins unleash on your body is inevitable. After all, toxins can be found in the air, water, food and consumer products such as furniture and bedding, carpeting and paint, personal care items, makeup and household cleaners.

By the time we reach our 60s, our bodies hold a vast storehouse of detrimental chemicals and compounds.

In my consulting practice with women around the world, many worry about breast cancer. An unfortunate consequence is that worry sends stress messages to our cells, including breast tissue.

It’s critical – and empowering! – to shift the focus from worrisome thoughts to everyday positive action steps.

Detoxify to Reduce the Risk of Breast Cancer

There’s quite a bit of misunderstanding about exactly what ‘detoxification’ is. Let’s start from its definition as a way to proactively reduce your cancer risk, in addition to helping you age well and feel vital.

How Detoxification Happens Naturally

Unwanted substances are removed from your body without you having to do anything. Detoxification is a process your body performs on a continual basis, right along with all of the other functions necessary to sustain life.

Certain compounds, like heavy metals, plastics and chemicals, which enter the body from the external environment (exotoxins), and even your own hormones (endotoxins) that don’t belong in the body are neutralized, primarily in the liver, by a process referred to as biotransformation.

Then the intestinal tract (gut), kidneys, lungs, lymphatic system and the skin get rid of (eliminate and excrete) the unwanted compounds.

When Nature Isn’t Enough: Common Indications That You Need to Detoxify

If any of the primary organs involved in detoxification – liver, kidneys, gut, lungs, or skin – are overtaxed by the buildup of toxins, one or more of the following signs and symptoms are likely to be present:

• Impaired Digestion: bloating, gas, constipation, diarrhea, indigestion
• Fluid retention, swollen belly, puffy eyes and fingers
• Cravings and blood sugar issues
• Fatigue, mental and physical
• Bad breath, a thick coating on the tongue, or a metallic taste in the mouth
• Sinus congestion, allergies, frequent colds and flu
• Weight gain, especially around the midsection
• Hot flashes or night sweats
• Moodiness, depression, lack of motivation
• Brain fog, forgetfulness, inability to focus
• Skin issues, eczema, itching, rashes, acne, rosacea
• Chronic muscle and/or joint pain.

These symptoms could mean that your immune, detoxification and elimination systems have become overwhelmed. But don’t despair, there are effective ways to purify and cleanse your body and to give your natural detoxification a boost.

Here are 4 easy ways to purify your body every day:

Break a Sweat

One of the most effective ways to eliminate toxins through the skin is to use an infrared sauna. Studies of the sweat produced following a session in an infrared sauna show measurable amounts of bisphenol A, or BPA, which is a known endocrine disruptor.

If you don’t have access to an infrared sauna, other ways to sweat include a hot bath + hot beverage + ginger in the water, or brisk walk with extra layers of clothing on.

Brush Your Skin

Use a brush with a long handle and natural bristles. Stand in your shower to catch the dead skin cells. Brush toward your heart, beginning with your feet and then your hands.

Use a circular motion on your groin, armpits and the front of your neck as these are areas where several lymph nodes are located. Be gentle over your breasts and other delicate areas. Finish with a hot shower.

Jump for Joy

While rebounding, the vertical motion and pull of gravity during jumping up and down improves blood circulation and stimulates lymphatic flow.

Both help to move and eliminate toxins from the body. Using a rebounder, also referred to as a mini-trampoline, jump daily for 10-15 minutes, upbeat music recommended.

A handrail is available, and can be a good idea if you are new to this activity or if you have any issues that make balance challenging. For most people, balance will improve rapidly with repeated sessions and practice.

Elevate Your Feet

Along with jumping, inversion therapy is another way to encourage lymphatic flow. There are additional benefits to inversion, such as decompression of the spine and increasing blood circulation to the muscles, which can be helpful in alleviating back pain.

You’ll need to use an inversion table to obtain those benefits. However, without an inversion table, you can scoot your buttocks up to the wall and place your legs up in the air as a method of increasing lymphatic and blood flow. At the end of a yoga session, I often perform my Savasana in this fashion.

Consider helping your natural detoxification with these everyday detox methods to improve your overall health and to reduce your risk of breast cancer. Be sure to keep up with breast health screenings at all ages. For information on an adjunct or alternative to mammograms, read this.

How many of these 5 daily detox tips do you utilize? Are there any others not mentioned here that you’ve tried? Please share in the comments below.

When I first heard Kate Beckinsale was going to be a face of a skincare brand that uses blue scorpion venom in its products, I was intrigued and also a little freaked out. But take one look at Beckinsale’s background — and her social media — and you know she 1) wouldn’t hurt an animal and 2) doesn’t partner with many beauty brands. So, for Beckinsale to work with MRVL Skincare, there had to be something to it. It turns out, there is and the story of how this skincare came to be is pretty fascinating. As is Beckinsale’s thoughts on why people are so concerned about women asserting their intelligence.

First, let’s get to the beauty products. MRVL Skincare was founded by entrepreneur Rick Langley who is also the founder of the world’s largest Blue Scorpion farm. These types of scorpions don’t have dangerous venom, so there are no concerns there. Langley developed what he calls Blue Scorpion Peptide (BSP) that he promises helps to stimulate natural collagen production, fight free radicals, help regenerate symptoms of damaged skin and smooth the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. The first batch of products is out today on the brand’s website.

I sat down with Beckinsale to find out her must-have items in the line and how she really feels about all that IQ backlash.

How She Got Involved With MRVL Skincare

Beckinsale was happy to become a spokesperson for MRVL Skincare because, well, the products just worked for her, something she says is most important when she’s going to be supporting a brand. “They sent me some of them, and they were such nice products and I really liked what they did to my skin,” she says. And when we learned the photoshoot was going to be in Turks and Caicos with dogs, the animal-rights activist was all in.

Of course, she made sure the Blue Scorpions aren’t hurt when “milked” for their venom, something I asked Langley as well. “I don’t want that to be involved with something that’s not kind,” she says. “But then also once I met them, I’m like, these last people to hurt an animal.” In fact, it was that Langley is also an animal-lover that attracted Beckinsale to the project.

Her Must-Have Products

Beckinsale likes to keep her routine pretty simple with an oil cleanser to remove makeup. As of late, she’s adding in her favorite MRVL Skincare products, too. “I really am a massive fan of the retinol cream particularly,” she says of the Retinol Repair Night Cream that contains combines retinol with the BSP. She uses it a few times a week but applies the Super Rich Eye Cream every day. When her skin is feeling dry and sensitive, she incorporates the calming, rich Arnica Recovery Cream.

MRVL Skincare.

How Her Cats Feel About Dressing Up

Switching gears, I have to ask Beckinsale about the cats on her Instagram always dressed up in the type of outfits my own cat would murder me for putting on her. Her cats are incredibly chill about it. “Well, Clive, the older one is 17. He actually really enjoys an outfit and he’s got certain things he just likes,” she says. “He loves tule and he loves ribbon and he’s really predictable. We adopted Willow from somebody else who couldn’t take care of her. She was kind of skittish and not the sort of cat that’s wanting to wear a pair of pajamas. But actually the longer she’s been with us, she’s like, I guess that’s how it is around here.”

Source: Instagram

Why She Thinks People Have Trouble With Intelligent Women

This past October, Beckinsale was a guest on Howard Stern’s SiriusXM radio show, when the host pressed her for her IQ. She called her mother to find out and revealed it to be 152, which is considered to be “highly gifted.” She told Stern that having a high IQ wasn’t “helpful” to her in Hollywood, saying, “I just think it might be a handicap, actually.” This led to numerous headlines criticizing the actor for “bragging” about her intelligence.

“If I was bragging, I would have said it earlier than this,” she tells me. “This would be a thing that I would have mentioned. It’s not something I think about, it’s not something I think is a particularly good marker of intelligence. Actually, I don’t think it’s that relevant.” She says she was just asked so she answered the question. “I think women if you say ‘I’m intelligent,’ or ‘I’m anything,’ frankly, it’s immediately bragging even it’s just a fact,” she continues.

Beckinsale took to her Instagram to express her frustration with the response. She sites studies that show girls often “play dumb” with boys to appear more feminine. Growing up in an all-girls school, Beckinsale didn’t have this experience. She might not have felt confident physically but she knew she was smart — and wasn’t taught to hide it. “I did not grow up feeling particularly confident about what I looked like,” she says. “I was very short and my feet grew to this same size they are now. I wasn’t one of these kids that had an amazing middle school time. That still doesn’t feel like my big strength. But I’ve never ever had to feel like I’m not smart.”

Source: Instagram

How She Feels About the Backlash

“Once I started thinking about it after this whole thing came up, finding all these articles about women dumbing themselves down and women, especially on dates, dumbing themselves down and thinking ‘God, this was just sorry,’” she says. “This says more about men actually, you know. But having said that, a lot of the people who jumped on me were women. I think people, in general, don’t like a woman to take up too much space. I don’t agree with that.”

We talk about how things women like are often seen as silly or frivolous as if being into skincare or cats has anything to do with how smart you are. (It doesn’t.) “I tend to throw a cat [into photos] just to make it more fun,” she says. “And people will go ‘oh, well, this really shows your IQ.’  No, because if you’re smart, you don’t have to be going on about it all the time. You can put a fedora on a cat and still be smart.”

Amen.