Christina Hendricks looks stunning on the latest cover of BlackBook, for the magazine’s Spring Fashion Issue. In the accompanying interview, the sultry 36-year-old actress dishes on ‘Mad Men’, her silhouette, sexual confidence, her early goth days, her husband, and many more.
Speaking about her role as Joan Holloway on AMC’s drama, ‘Mad Men’, Hendricks confesses that, “The amazing thing about Joan is how confident she is. I was never that confident. When we shot the pilot I was like, Who is this woman? I’m not friends with people like that.” She then adds that, “She’s living in the ’60s, but she uses sexual innuendo, which is taboo. Because of that — and a very tight green dress — she became a sexual character. She was very openly saying, I have sex, and I don’t care if you judge me. I’m not going to apologize for who I am. Those qualities resonated with people, and have given me confidence.”
Christina’s passion for performance dates back in her teens when she acted in community theater and did ballet. “I studied pretty much everyday. Then, when I was 15, I realized I wasn’t going to be a professional dancer and I sort of had to readjust. I already knew that performance was something that made me happy,” she says. Still, before acting, the actress first embraced fashion. “When I was in junior high, I was sewing my own clothes. I had these looks. Sometimes they were very tragic. I wore a pair of green, silk, MC Hammer–style pants with the low crotch, Birkenstocks, and my hair in a turban. What that look was, I don’t know, but it was kind of amazing,” she told BlackBook.
The actress also recalls that in high school she was more into the goth culture. “I wasn’t one of those sloppy, dirty goths. I thought it was very beautiful and I went out of my way to do it right, in a very high-fashion kind of way,” she told the magazine.
On her career in show business, Hendricks confesses that, “It all happened naturally. I was surprised to get the role of Joan, since I’d always played these socially awkward, quirky, best friend characters. I’d audition for cop and lawyer characters, and everyone would say that I was too soft.” Speaking about Mad Men’s fifth season, the actress “has by now mastered the art of revealing everything and nothing at the same time”. “A lot happens this year. Last year was building up to what was going to happen with Don and Betty, and although there’s that, so much happens with each character this season that we were all like, Whoa. All I can say is a lot happens to Joan,” she told Blackbook.
On her silhouette and sexual confidence, Christina admits that she feels great in her skin. “My husband makes me feel sexy, and I’ve always been really comfortable in my skin, but I’m really just a girl who would prefer talking about my acting rather than my body. But, I’m a very comfortable naked person. Not in front of other people, but at home and in front of my husband, I feel good not wearing clothes,” she says. When it comes to her relationship with husband, actor Geoffrey Arend, Hendricks says that everything stands in just working on it. “People don’t want to work at marriage anymore. Even a really great friendship is a lot of work, but sometimes people stay together forever and they’re miserable. There has to be a middle ground,” she explains.
Read Christina Hendricks’ full interview in the BlackBook Spring Fashion Issue.
Photos courtesy of BlackBook