Kristen Bell couldn’t be happier about turning 30. With a renewed perspective on life, the actress is back on the big screen in You Again as a PR pro who heads home for her older brother’s wedding only to discover that he’s marrying her high-school archnemesis.

The actress couldn’t wait to channel her own insecure high school days for the comedy, which co-stars Jamie Lee Curtis, Sigourney Weaver, and Betty White. Plus, Kristen reveals a few details to Parade.com about her upcoming cameo in Scream 4.

Teaming up with Hollywood vets Weaver, Curtis and White in You Again.
“It was kind of surreal because they accepted me as a peer, which I wasn’t prepared for. I thought I would be a giddy ball of nerves the entire time because they’re such iconic women, and I look up to all of them. I was intimidated initially but very shortly I realized they haven’t been working for decades because they have bad personalities! They are actually a lot of fun to work with and bring a lot to the table, so I was just happy to be the runt of the litter.”

Working with the one and only Betty White.
“We were just lucky that she fit us into her busy schedule because she is quite literally the busiest woman in Hollywood. Everyone was just happy to be working on a movie where there were so many fun, feisty women.”

Can she imagine having a career like Betty’s at 88?
“I don’t think anyone will do it as good as Betty White. She is working right now because she is good at it and because she wants to. I think that’s the key to success in any field, if you want to keep doing it. If I’m still happy working when I’m 88, then absolutely I’ll still work. But if I just want to be on a beach somewhere in a one-piece bathing suit and giant straw hat, then that’ll be what will happen.”

Remembering her high-school days.
“I think I was somewhere in between popular and nerdy. I went to a very small school where the consequences of bullying were a lot more dramatic than they were at a big school. You couldn’t just walk down the hall and shove a nameless face because we all knew each other’s families. There wasn’t a stereotypical bully. But in high school, I was just very insecure because I was always so concerned that everybody liked me so I was just very sweet, a little meeker than I am now, but I was really just so hopeful that I wouldn’t fight with anybody.”

Trading in her Hollywood image for glasses, pimples and braces on the big screen.
“That was my dream come true. That’s what I wake up looking like, or at least that’s what I feel I wake up looking like! I loved that because it’s always been my dream to be more of a character actress, so to be able to put braces and glasses and pimples on my face and have greasy hair and a little bit of a hunchback was so much fun for me. I actually wanted to go much further with it, but I came out of the makeup trailer with all of these whiteheads all over my face and Disney kind of pulled me back and said, ‘This isn’t a horror film, let’s just do your standard run-of-the-mill acne please.’”

Why she’s keeping it real.
“I have no desire to put on this face of perfection. I’m constantly striving to better myself, but that’s also maybe out of intense insecurities. Feeling like I went right from high school to Hollywood, it’s essentially the same dynamic. But I can admit, I don’t always have the best style. I trip a lot, I go to therapy because I make mistakes, I just try to be as real and as well-rounded as possible because there’s nothing really that interesting about perfection. It’s been done so many times before.”

On recently turning 30.
“I love 30 more than I’ve ever loved anything. I feel like I was born on my 30th birthday. It’s finally the time where I’ve fully accepted and loved myself, which I’m realizing more and more each day — it is so important to love yourself. Because if you don’t love yourself than nothing really matters. For a long time, I went through life kind of beating myself up and trying to be a perfectionist and do everything right and I just thought, ‘What’s the point?’ I have faults, that’s fine. I can still strive to be better, but I’m not going to be as rough on myself as I used to and it’s just kind of alleviating all of this stress and kind of taken a weight off my shoulders and I think now I’m just happy.”

What’s she’s looking forward to most in her next decade.
“Anything and everything that my 30s have to throw at me. Part of the great place that I’m in is that I’m not planning as much anymore. I have goals, but my main goal is just to be happy. And if I plan everything out I just feel that’s what crazes your brain and messes you up and makes you feel like a failure. Wherever you are right now is OK. That’s kind of been my mantra.”

Finding comfort in her engagement to Dax Shepard.
“I never loved dating. I think it’s very uncomfortable to put yourself out there and be vulnerable. I’m much more comfortable in a relationship and I’m very happy.”

They’re not your typical Hollywood couple.
“I’m definitely a homebody. I don’t know if I’ve been to a club in the last seven years, at least not one that I was forced to go to because it was for a friends’ birthday party. I’m not much for the club atmosphere, but I don’t drink so that may have something to do with it! I love to cook and I have a garden at home and I’m much more like a 1950s housewife, I think.”

The shows she’s hooked on.
“I like Damages, I like Mad Men. I love 30 Rock. I really like Friday Night Lights and was over the moon when they were finally acknowledged on the Emmys this year because I think they’ve been one of the better shows on television for a while now.”

Her one guilty pleasure.
“I’m always DVR’ing Jersey Shore, but I’ve never been ashamed to admit that. I probably should be ashamed to admit that, but I’m not. I think that it’s one of the greatest disasters to ever come to television and I just love the lessons they learn each week and the trouble they get into.”

On her hush-hush cameo in the upcoming Scream 4.
“I am in the movie, I will say that. I don’t know if I can say much more than that but it’s a really, really fun movie and everyone loves it as much as they did the first one.”

Will her character suffer a fate like Drew Barrymore’s in the first flick?
“It doesn’t go down like you think it does. But it was fun doing it, that’s what I’ll say. I loved being a part of the movie.”

From Parade.com

Some dread turning 30. Kristen Bell, on the other hand, discovered the birthday milestone was anything but daunting.

“I love 30 more than I’ve ever loved anything. I feel like I was born on my 30th birthday,” the actress, who celebrated the big day on July 18, tells Parade magazine. “It’s finally the time where I’ve fully accepted and loved myself, which I’m realizing more and more each day.”

For a long time, Bell says she went through a phase where she beat herself up trying to be perfect. But, “I just thought, ‘What’s the point?’ … I’m not going to be as rough on myself as I used to … I think now I’m just happy.”

Part of that, she says, is due to her relationship with fiancé Dax Shepard.

“I never loved dating. I think it’s very uncomfortable to put yourself out there and be vulnerable,” says Bell, who’ll next appear on the big screen in You Again and has a cameo in the upcoming Scream 4. “I’m much more comfortable in a relationship and I’m very happy.”

A self-proclaimed homebody, Bell has swapped clubbing for cooking – she has her own garden at home – and thinks she’s “much more like a 1950s housewife.”

At home, the former Veronica Mars star unwinds in front of the TV with Damages, Mad Men, 30 Rock and Friday Night Lights – and one guilty pleasure.

“I’m always DVR’ing Jersey Shore,” she says. “I probably should be ashamed to admit that, but I’m not. I think that it’s one of the greatest disasters to ever come to television and I just love the lessons they learn each week and the trouble they get into.”

From People

Kristen was on Craig Ferguson on April 5th. Here’s a video of the appearance!:

Kristen was on Regis and Kelly yesterday and here’s a video of the interview. I will have caps up ASAP

Bell and Bateman sat down to discuss their latest film, the fall’s best comedy (stay tuned for SheKnows review October 9). The comic duo chronicle Couples Retreat for SheKnows.

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