Single and satisfied: famous women on the power of being alone

Jennifer Lawrence - The young and wildly successful actress says she never feels lonely, and doesn’t think it’s a sad thing to be alone. She said at TimesTalks, "I don’t feel a lack of something not being in a relationship. I don’t feel like there is a hole to be filled... an emotional hole to be filled. My dad’s here!"

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Rihanna - RiRi told New York Magazine blatantly that "Guys need attention," but that she will only spend her energy on family and work. She even clapped back at a reporter who asked her what she was looking for in her next man, replying, "I’m not looking for a man, let’s start there."

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Emilia Clarke - The 'GoT' star is on a major career wave, and she told InStyle magazine in 2014, "People keep asking me who I’m dating right now and the truth is…wait for it…no one. And that’s OK." She also spoke about how women feel naturally inclined to nurture someone else, but that can sometimes be at the expense of themselves.

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Jennifer Aniston - Quite unlike Rachel, Aniston never understood why women were so frantic about men. "Women are realizing it more and more knowing that they don't have to settle with a man just to have that child," she's said. "Times have changed and that is also what is amazing is that we do have so many options these days."

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Salma Hayek - The actress claims women have become addicted to relationships of all sorts, but her advice for relationships with men is "if it's going to be a s****y one, it's better to have a relationship with your flowers." She insists it's much more important to know your value beyond relationships and even beyond a career.

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Diane Keaton - The writer, photographer, Oscar-winning actress, and mother of two adopted children admits to have once believed, when she was young, that she would find someone that she would live with until she died. While she's had numerous relationships, Keaton says not being married hasn't taken away from her life at at all. "That old maid myth is garbage."

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Gloria Steinem - The famed feminist threw some light on what is perhaps the reason single women are becoming more common: "Some of us are becoming the men we wanted to marry."

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Coco Chanel - The legendary designer famously opted to remain unmarried. "It's probably not just by chance that I'm alone," she's quoted as saying. "It would be very hard for a man to live with me, unless he's terribly strong. And if he's stronger than I, I'm the one who can't live with him." She's also said she only drinks champagne on two occasions: when she's in love, and when she's not. Iconic!

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Oprah Winfrey - As a famously unmarried woman who has enjoyed a relationship with Stedman Graham for more than three decades, Winfrey has endured near-constant questions about whether and when they will marry, but she's never succumbed to the pressure. She even told Larry King that she looks at Graham as someone who is in her life, similar to her best friend or her dogs—in a healthy way!

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Taylor Swift - Even the queen of relationship songs loves being alone! But she clarifies that being alone isn't the same as being lonely. Her routine? "I like to do things that glorify being alone. I buy a candle that smells pretty, turn down the lights and make a playlist of low-key songs." It's all about perspective.

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Kim Cattrall - The actress realized how amazing being single was when she could sleep right in the middle of her mattress. "I can snore, I can fart, I can do all of these things without thinking, 'Oh god,'" she told BBC 4 Woman's Hour. She also said that women can feel the same loneliness they fear from single life while in a relationship as well.

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Rashida Jones - Though Jones is now married and has a child, she had already found peace with her single status before then. She admitted to The Guardian, "I had the full princess fantasy: the white horse, the whole being saved from my life, which is ridiculous. What do I want to be saved from? My life's great!" She spoke about how culturally ingrained the idea of marriage is in women's minds, and that it took her a long time to get to a place where she didn't feel like "some sort of loser" for not participating.

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Lady Gaga - Though she's engaged now, Gaga once delivered some poignant love and career advice: "Some women choose to follow men, and some women choose to follow their dreams. If you're wondering which way to go, remember that your career will never wake up and tell you that it doesn't love you anymore."

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Mae West - This iconic actress/singer/writer was actually married twice, but she's shared some hilarious insight about her preference for the single life: "Men are my hobby—if I ever got married, I'd have to give it up."

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Chelsea Handler - Handler doesn't want being single to just be acceptable, but rather she wants it embraced and celebrated. She advises, "Next time you see a single woman, instead of asking her where her boyfriend, husband or eunuch is, congratulate her on her accomplished sense of self and for reaching the solitary mountaintop by herself without a ring on her finger." She also notes that the world would have lost incredibly influential figures if they'd chosen to focus on relationships instead of going it alone.

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Katy Perry - Though the singer is in a happy relationship now, she's said that she knows she doesn't need Prince Charming to have a happy ending: "I can make the happy ending myself."

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Hailee Steinfeld - The actress and singer has admitted to not having the time for dating, especially since that will always be available whereas her work and her family need more immediate focus.

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Katharine Hepburn - The late actress once told New York Times about taking control of her life and defying convention: "I have not lived as a woman. I have lived as a man. I've just done what I damn well wanted to and I've made enough money to support myself and I ain't afraid of being alone."

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Sandra Bullock - Bullock was a single mom for quite a few years, but she made it clear that she's not actively seeking anyone out and doesn't feel like she's missing anything when she's not in a relationship. "If something happens, great, but if not, I've got plenty to do."

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Helen Fielding - The 'Bridget Jones' author laid out the facts: "One in four households are single, most of the royal family are single, the nation's young men have been proved by surveys to be completely unmarriageable and as a result there's a whole generation of single girls like me with their own incomes and homes who have lots of fun and don't need to wash anyone else's socks."

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Mindy Kaling - The actress, writer, and single mother realized that she was more boy crazy in her twenties because at the time she wasn't very secure in her own happiness or career. "Now it's almost the opposite," she told Flare. "My work is so rewarding and I'm so self-centered about it that I'm kind of excited about not having to go home and ask someone about their day."

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Jennifer Lopez - The singer told InStyle magazine: "As girls, I think we are taught from a very young age that someone is going to bring us our happiness. I was waiting for Prince Charming. Everybody I met was going to be the guy I was going to spend my life with. And then you realize, 'I'm strong, I'm my own keeper, my own savior.' That's been the journey for me."

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Jane Austen - Sure, she was a master of literary romance and crafted some of the most iconic couples, but that only adds power to her single status, especially her choice to end an engagement mere hours after being proposed to. "There are as many forms of love as there are moments in time," Austen famously said.

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Sophia Bush - The actress believes being single is an essential part of life: "I don't think you can really, truly be the partner you want to be until you know on an absolute level that you are a complete person on your own." She says women deserve to experience life beyond the fairy-tale love stories that tell them they're not complete without a man.

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Halle Berry - The actress breaks things down in deliciously simple terms: "The man for me is the cherry on the pie. But I'm the pie and my pie is good all by itself. Even if I don't have a cherry." When was the last time you didn't enjoy a pie because there was no cherry on it?

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Carrie Bradshaw - Sure, she's fictional. But the 'Sex and the City' character delivered some very real lessons for the modern woman, including these words of wisdom: "Being single used to mean that nobody wanted you. Now it means you're pretty sexy and you're taking your time deciding how you want your life to be and who you want to spend it with."

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Nicki Minaj - If you can look past her recent hookup, the rapper has been a strong role model for independent women. "As soon as I realized that I could actually live and breathe, and eat and sleep, and walk and talk, without having a boyfriend, something clicked in me," she said. Minaj said being single and self-sufficient empowered her, "I get up when I want, shop when I want."

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Charlize Theron - The 43-year-old actress has enjoyed many relationships, but has never been married. Unlike many other voluntarily single women, she still wanted children, so she adopted two. She told Esquire UK that she's sure a lot of people wouldn't want to be single at her age, but that "a life is good if it's the life that you want."

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Kristen Bell - Bell doesn't completely reject the Prince Charming idea, saying that women may still need him, but that "life is bigger than just Prince Charming. And that when you find him it's great, and you can live alongside someone, but until then you're allowed to live vivaciously."

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Hayden Panettiere - This actress has caught on to the funny way the world works in favor of single and satisfied women: "It's when you're not looking for anything that something winds up coming along. It's about learning how to be just with yourself and that you don't need to be in a relationship."

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Elisabeth Moss - One of the actress's favorite parts about being single is the excitement and world of possibility ahead of her. "It's fun to go out at night and not know what's going to happen. I'm addicted and obsessed with my freedom in that sense. I'm having fun!"

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Nina Dobrev - The actress isn't a fan of the idea of people being defined by their relationships. "The whole point is being true to yourself and not losing yourself in relationships," she told Cosmopolitan in 2013.

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Greta Garbo - While iconic actress Greta Garbo enjoyed a number of affairs with famous men, she prioritized her career, even turning down numerous proposals. She's famously quoted saying, "There are some who want to get married and others who don't. I have never had an impulse to go to the altar. I am a difficult person to lead."

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Condoleezza Rice - The former US Secretary of State has enjoyed a long and fruitful career, and she chose the single life because it was better than getting married for the sake of it. She emphasized on CBS that people should only marry once they've found the person they want to be married to.

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Louisa May Alcott - Alcott (1832-1888) famously wrote 'Little Women,' and practiced what she preached by earning her own living and being independent when it was still highly unconventional. Following a visit to a married friend once, Alcott wrote that her marriage "nest" was "very sweet and pretty, but I'd rather be a free spinster and paddle my own canoe."

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Stevie Nicks - The singer is tired of society pitying her for being alone: "I don't feel alone. I feel very un-alone. I feel very sparkly and excited about everything," she's said. She makes it clear that being single doesn't mean you're starved for company. "I'll never be alone. I'll always be surrounded by people."

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Keke Palmer - The singer and actress says it's actually fun to be single, because "You find yourself. You understand what it means to love yourself, instead of putting all this energy into give and tug in a relationship."

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Shay Mitchell - The actress is very familiar with the desperate clamber for relationships, but she says, "I'm not one of those people. If you're a suitable, positive partner, then great, I'd love to add you to my life. But I don't need anybody to feel complete. I don't need to be with somebody just to not be alone."

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Carol Vorderman - The British media personality loves being single because she never has to compromise, and can make decisions without considering anyone else. "I'm never lonely because I have many friends who love mischief as much as me … Being single, in my mind, means I have lots of boyfriends at the same time and no commitment to any of them." That's one way to look at it!

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Grace Jones - The model and singer has written in her memoir 'I'll Never Write My Memoirs' that she's actually put a lot of effort into enjoying being alone so that she doesn't enter a relationship out of fear. She reminds us that there's no guarantee that a couple will work out anyway, and that "Sometimes it is better to find ways to be happy alone than to have a relationship in which you are miserable for the sake of not being alone."

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Julie Delpy - The actress doesn't like the reasons people rush into relationships, arguing that "Too many women throw themselves into romance because they're afraid of being single, then start making compromises and losing their identity. I won't do that."

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Single and satisfied: famous women on the power of being alone

Celebrate yourself this Valentine's Day

29/01/19 | StarsInsider

CELEBRITY Relationships

Despite being in the 21st century, out-of-date ideas surrounding what women should be doing, and when, continue to slow them down. Successful women are still being asked why they haven’t settled down or when they’re going to have children instead of being questioned about their creative process or next career move—as if their relationship status is somehow representative of their value. And what better day to magnify the bias against single people than Valentine’s?

The truth is that being single holds a lot more merit than we’re conditioned to believe, and it can be life-changing when you decide to celebrate independence and self-care instead of fearing it. Check out what these incredibly successful women have to say about the power of being alone.