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Christina Ricci Identifies With Zelda Fitzgerald, Opens Up About Nervous Breakdown

By Stacey Cole
Published on: 05:07 PST, Jan 11, 2017

Christina Ricci said Zelda Fitzgerald was smart enough to know when people were “full of sh*t,” according to Out Magazine. The 36-year-old actress got candid in her recent interview with Out Magazine, in which she discussed her character in the new Amazon series, Z: The Beginning of Everything.

In the new Amazon TV show, Christina Ricci plays Jazz Age proto-feminist Zelda Fitzgerald, the famous wife of The Great Gatsby author, F. Scott Fitzgerald. While it may seem weird that Ricci, who once infamously suggested that incest is “natural,” would all of a sudden find a connection to Zelda Fitzgerald, the actress herself says she has more in common with the iconic woman than one might think.

Christina Ricci always seemed a bit cocky in her past interviews, but it appears that with the role of Zelda, the actress has finally grown up. The 36-year-old actress is the mother of a two-year-old, and the happily married wife of James Heerdegen.

In her interview, Christina Ricci describes the Fitzgeralds as “two young arrogant narcissists who got in over their heads.” And by all accounts, it’s no secret that Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald wedded young, fought often, and drank a little too much alcohol.

All that, however, didn’t prevent Scott from becoming one of the greatest writers of all time, and Zelda one of the most important feminists of the first half of the past century. As if it wasn’t challenging enough to portray such a complicated woman as Zelda Fitzgerald, who died in a hospital fire in 1948, Christina Ricci also decided to produce the series.

Although Christina Ricci admits the role of Zelda Fitzgerald is the first romantic lead she has ever played in her life, she also adds that Zelda is the most “fully explored person” she has ever played.

“I feel like Zelda is the most realistic, well-rounded, fully fleshed-out, and fully explored person I’ve played.”

Christina Ricci added that Zelda Fitzgerald was so intelligent she could “see through facades” while lacking self-control. Although the wife of the Great Gatsby author didn’t “burst a lot of bubbles,” Ricci admits that she was “a very self-aware young person” who was able to judge this world.

“Maybe she didn’t always have the best time, because she didn’t buy into the bullsh*t. She was smart enough to know when people were full of sh*t.”

Christina Ricci also revealed that she was able to relate to Zelda’s story because she had put her “perspective on things.” The actress explained that she was able to relate because she had been “a child in a very surreal world.”

“I try to find the normalcy in everything in life, in every situation. Where’s the human thing amid the craziness?”

But it was Zelda’s mental state that allowed Christina Ricci to feel the special connection as the actress explains that she once was on the brink of a nervous breakdown when she was younger. Ricci added she had even thought that nervous breakdowns were “part of life” because every time she read something about women, they were “put away” at some point in their life.

So Christina Ricci thought that at some point in her life when she becomes “too difficult to deal with,” she would have to go away.

“Even my grandmother had nervous breakdowns and was put in asylums. I think it’s just how they dealt with difficult women back then.”

Although Z: The Beginning of Everything originally premiered in November last year, its first season is set to premiere in late January 2017, according to the Gazette Review. The upcoming series is based on the book by author Therese Anne Fowler.

[Featured Image by Phillip Faraone/Getty Images]

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