Shailene Woodley Reveals the Three 'Rules' Her Parents Had for Her When She Began Acting at Age 5

Shailene Woodley’s parents were there for her when she started acting as a child – but she had a few guidelines to follow.

The Three women the actress appears on the September 2024 cover of Virgin Atlantic Faith magazine, where she talked about her screen career and how her psychologist parents have supported her since she started acting at the age of 5.

“My parents had three rules when I was starting out,” said Woodley, 32. “To become an actor, I had to stay the person they knew me to be, do well in school and have fun.”

“I love that they included the party because I’m a party machine,” she added of mom Lori Woodley and dad Lonnie Woodley. – I’m really good at playing.

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Shailene Woodley on The Secret Life of the American Teenager in 2010.

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The Divergent the actress obeyed her parents’ school rule, but accelerated it in a way that made sense for her career goals.

“I got the equivalent of my GED when I was 15 so I could legally work as an adult during my junior year of high school,” she told Faith.

But because Woodley “loved school so much and took pride in being successful,” she didn’t stray too far from the formative parts of high school.

“In the end, I stayed to get a real diploma and go to graduation,” she said.

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Shailene Woodley in Los Angeles on June 6, 2024.

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Woodley has previously spoken about her unique upbringing, revealing it in the September 2016 issue of NET-A-PORTER.com’s digital magazine. EDITING that her parents would sometimes force her and her younger brother, Tanner, to “hug” on their front lawn after an argument.

It was even harder when it was Big little lies the actress was teased at school.

“It would have hurt my feelings and my parents were not on my side. They would say things like, ‘I’m so sorry you feel that way, but how do you think that person felt?’ Oh, I hated it,” she said at the time.

But years later, as an adult, Woodley said she understands what her parents were doing.

“It allowed me to recognize that no one is evil,” she admitted. “They are probably hurt and can’t express themselves, they don’t have love at home, so it repeats itself. It gave me a broader perspective: just put yourself in the other person’s shoes.”

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Source: HIS Education