Biography
Date of Birth
16 December 1986, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA
Birth Name
Megan Denise Fox
Nickname
Mega Fox
Foxy Megan
Meg
Height
5' 4" (1.63 m)
Mini Biography
Megan Denise Fox was born on May 16, 1986 in Oak Ridge, Tennessee and raised in Rockwood, Tennessee to Gloria Darlene Tonachio (née Cisson), a real estate manager and Franklin Thomas Fox, a parole officer. She began her drama and dance training at age 5 and at age 10, she moved to Port St. Lucie, Florida where she continued her training and finished school. Megan began acting and modeling at age 13 after winning several awards at the 1999 American Modeling and Talent Convention in Hilton Head, South Carolina. At age 17, she tested out of school using correspondence and eventually moved to Los Angeles, California. Megan made her film debut as Brianna Wallace in the Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Olsen film, Holiday in the Sun (2001). Her best known roles are as Sam Witwicky's love interest, Mikaela Banes in Transformers (2007) and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009), and as April O'Neil in the film reboot Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014) and its sequel Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows (2016).
Trivia
Ranked #68 in FHM magazine's "100 Sexiest Women in the World 2006" supplement.
Ranked #18 on Maxim magazine's Hot 100 Women of 2007 list.
Her ancestry is mainly English, with small amounts of Scottish, German, and Scots-Irish (Northern Irish), and distant French and Welsh. Also, Megan's six times great-grandmother, Mary Powhatan, was said to be of the Powhatan Native American tribe; if so, this would make Megan of 1/256 Native American ancestry.
Friends with Jennifer Blanc-Biehn, Amanda Seyfried, Shia LaBeouf and Michael Biehn.
Ranked #17 on Interview magazine's Hollywood faces to watch "Future Stars of Tomorrow".
Ranked #1 in the 2008 FHM list of "100 Sexiest Women in the World".
Ranked #16 on Maxim magazine's Hot 100 Women of 2008 list.
Is a huge fan of both comic books and video games. Her favorite artist is the recently deceased Michael Turner.
Is a huge fan of animals and has owned dogs, cats, birds, squirrels and a pig.
Names Shia LaBeouf as one of her favorite people ever.
Ranked #1 on Moviefone's "The 25 Hottest Actors Under 25" (2008).
Ranked #2 on Maxim magazine's Hot 100 Women of 2009 list.
Is a huge fan of both the Star Trek and Star Wars franchises.
Is the first actress to ever grace the front cover of GoreZone magazine.
Married Brian Austin Green in a sunset ceremony on a beach in Hawaii with his son Kassius as their only witness.
Ranked #5 on Maxim magazine's Hot 100 Women of 2010 list.
Ranked #49 in Ask men's top 99 "most desirable" women of 2011.
Has approximately 9-10 tattoos so far, including her husband's name "Brian" on her hip. Although she is removing the tattoo of Marilyn Monroe on her right forearm (2011).
Ranked #14 in the 2011 Men's Health 100 Hottest Women of All Time list, she placed behind Angelina Jolie, Sharon Stone, Scarlett Johansson and Catherine Deneuve.
Was banned from Walmart at age 15 after being caught shoplifting (stealing make-up).
Ranked #96 in Ask men's top 99 "most desirable" women of 2012.
Named #50 on channel 4's television episode "50 Greatest Plastic Surgery Shockers" (2010).
She was the Brahma (beer trademark) muse at the Brazilian carnival at Rio de Janeiro (2013).
Attended the world premiere of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009) at Roppongi Hills in Tokyo, Japan on June 9, 2009.
Her favorite movies are The Wizard of Oz (1939), the Lord of the Rings trilogy, How to Train Your Dragon (2010), Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011), and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles trilogy.
(June 24, 2010) Married her boyfriend of six years Brian Austin Green following a three-year on-and-off engagement.
Has a stepson: Kassius Marcil-Green (b. March 15, 2002) with ex-husband, Brian Austin Green.
Has 3 sons: Noah Green (b. September 27, 2012), Bodhi Green (b. February 12, 2014) & Journey Green (b. August 4, 2016) with ex-husband, Brian Austin Green.
Her sister Kristi Branim Fox is eleven years older.
Returned to work 7 weeks after giving birth to her son Bodhi in order to complete filming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014).
Returned to work 8 months after giving birth to her son Bodhi to begin filming Zeroville (2019).
She auditioned for the role of Lisa the babysitter in The Amityville Horror (2005), which went to Rachel Nichols.
Showed interest for the role of Carrie White in the horror remake Carrie (2013), which went to Chloë Grace Moretz.
Has a quote from William Shakespeare's "King Lear" tattooed on her right shoulder that reads: "We will all laugh at gilded butterflies.".
Is the first actress who was born after the comic debut of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to portray April O'Neil in a live-action movie.
She was scheduled to be in the full Transformers movie series, but was dropped after the second movie after comparing director Michael Bay to Hitler.
Filed for divorce from Brian Austin Green in August 2015. They had been separated since June the same year. The couple got back together shortly after.
Returned to work 7 months after giving birth to her son Noah to begin filming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014).
(March 5, 2020) Separated from her husband of nine years, Brian Austin Green.
Dated David Gallagher from February 2003 to March 2004.
Dating Machine Gun Kelly since May 2020.
Has two goats (Lulu and Coco), a dog, and a cat.
Currently resides in Los Angeles, California.
Born at 12:35 AM (EDT).
Trademarks:
Often dresses in red and black.
Seductive voice
Her many tattoos
Sparkling blue eyes
Quotes
[on working with Michael Bay] Michael Bay's name, if it's attached to a script, you know it's going to be a huge blockbuster released in the summer, with jets flying over at the premiere and all that kind of stuff. So I knew it was going to be a huge movie.
[on George Clooney] He's sarcastic, and he has a different girlfriend constantly. It's considered charismatic. He's like this James Bond, sexy dude. The older he gets, the better he gets. It's a double standard. To be outspoken, or different at all, is a problem for women. As soon as you curse or, God forbid, make some sort of sexual reference that's a joke, you're labeled a party girl. They don't do that with men, so I feel it would be a lot easier.
[Director Michael Bay] doesn't like really skinny actresses. He's been traumatized by them for some reason in the past. So I always try to put on eight to ten pounds before filming, and I'm always the fattest I've ever been when making a Transformers (2007) movie.
[on her Marilyn Monroe tattoo] I committed to having her face on my arm for the rest of my life, so I have to be a pretty big fan.
Wonder Woman is a lame superhero. She flies around in her invisible jet, but she's not invisible. And her weaponry is a magic lasso that makes you tell the truth. I just don't get it.
Look, I'm not a lesbian, I just think that all humans are born with the ability to be attracted to both sexes. I mean, I could see myself in a relationship with a girl. Olivia Wilde is so sexy, she makes me want to strangle a mountain ox with my bare hands. She's mesmerizing.
Zac Efron is my obsession, we're the same person. We're not actually here, it's like [Janet Jackson] and Michael Jackson. He just puts on his wig and a dress, and it's me, and you don't know that. It's one of the greatest mysteries of all time.
Boys in their twenties are a waste of time. They have nothing to offer conversationally; they're immature. I feel like I have a better shot with someone in his thirties.
When I go to a party, I always feel like I'm chum. Like my agent is just chumming the waters until I'm circled by all these dudes.
People assume that I'm really promiscuous. There's a difference between being very sexual and being promiscuous. I'm not promiscuous. I'm extraordinarily sexual within a monogamous relationship. Nothing's off-limits. But that has nothing to do with experiencing a lot of people. I've only had two boyfriends my whole life.
If I ever lose a role because of my tattoos, I'll quit Hollywood and go to work at Costco.
[on Shia LaBeouf] He probably is my favourite person in the entire world. Shia makes me laugh harder than anybody I've ever known in my life. I end up crying or almost peeing myself every time I'm with him. So he's just my favourite - I love you, Shia! And he's really super-handsome!
[on Angelina Jolie] I'm actually frightened of her, I haven't had the opportunity to meet her and I try to avoid that because I'm afraid. Angelina's a powerful person and I bet she would eat me alive. I guess that is why I'm afraid of her. There have been a lot of films I've had to pass on because I don't want people thinking I'm trying to emulate her.
When I moved to Los Angeles, I had no money. I remember needing to shave my legs, and I didn't even have enough money to buy disposable razors. So I'd wear pants all the time.
Women are expected to be conformist automatons in L.A. but in Britain you can be more yourself and people will take you on face value.
I don't trust male intentions, usually, because they don't approach me for intellectual conversation.
Hollywood is the most superficial thing you could possibly be a part of and if I weren't attractive, I wouldn't be working at all.
I'm definitely labelled in the pin-up category. I haven't given people a reason to take my work seriously yet, which is my responsibility. I think the expectation for me, as far as my ability as an actress goes, is very low. I feel like that means I can only ever be an overachiever when people expect so little from me.
I was with someone from the time I was 18 and I've never been my own independent adult. Right now, there's no space in my head for who's going to be next or how I need to fill my time. I'm trying to expand myself and grow and be comfortable with who I am before I get into another relationship where I'll just repeat a cycle. Otherwise, I will have ten failed relationships. I will be Elizabeth Taylor by the time I am 60 and I don't want that.
I'm kind of a recluse. I'm a hermit and it's because I do have a great fear of Hollywood, just watching what it does to people. You have to be a really strong human being to survive it, as a girl especially. So I try to avoid the Hollywood scene as much as possible and people who enjoy the Hollywood scene -- that's usually a red flag to me. Some people might think my life is boring, but I haven't been to rehab yet, so I think I'm doing something right!
I didn't decide I'm gonna be an actress cause I wanna be respected for how I play chess.
[on Marilyn Monroe] I just had an incredible amount of empathy for her my whole life. I cry when I see her on camera.
I worked at a Tropical Smoothie in Florida when I was 15. I would sometimes have to go out by the street in a gigantic banana costume and dance to try to get customers to come in. There was no anonymity - the costume had a big hole cut out so that everyone could see your face. My friends from school would drive back and forth and yell all kinds of awesome obscenities at me.
I grew up craving the spotlight and once it happened I immediately recoiled. It just always seemed really glamorous. As a child, you think everyone who's famous is very wealthy and powerful. I thought my internal issues would be solved and I would be this really confident person. And I'm not.
[on giving male writers an amped-up version of her past] They're boys; they're easily toyed with. I tell stories and have them eating out of my hand.
Sex and the City (2008), the movie, was so tragic. Costume dramas bore me and Hollywood comedies are total garbage, not funny at all. Fame doesn't mean anything because anyone can be famous, and television news is mindless.
I have no friends and I never leave my house. You just have to make a choice to just refuse to be involved with things that could get you in trouble. It's easy when you feel upset or depressed about something to want to go to a club and want to drink, but instead I just force myself to sit and feel it and deal with it, and try to grow from it, because I don't want to go down that path. I'm one of the most isolated people in existence right now, but it's worth it because if I wasn't making that decision I would be throwing away my career.
[on Angelina Jolie] She always seems otherworldly in her power and her confidence. I'm sure she has no idea who I am.
[on Transformers (2007)] I'm terrible in it. It's my first real movie and it's not honest and not realistic. The movie wasn't bad, I just wasn't proud about what I did.
I think one day, I could be a very good actress. But so far, I haven't done anything.
I'm not going to win an Oscar anytime soon. I'm not Meryl Streep.
[on being asked if she had a crush on Angelina Jolie] Absolutely. Every time a relationship ends, I say, "If I could just be Angelina's girlfriend, I would be so happy." I love Angelina Jolie. She's someone I admire and look up to. She's my favorite actress in Hollywood. I just love that she's incredibly honest, and I feel that she's not afraid to be herself. She tells you exactly what's on her mind.
I am not a Jennifer Aniston or a Britney Spears or even a Lindsay Lohan, you know? My pictures don't sell for that kind of money. But [of] the small level that I do deal with it, it is hard and there have been times [when] people don't want to hang out with me because they don't want to end up on the Internet. I sometimes just turn around and go back home and don't do anything and have to have someone go do my grocery shopping.
[on her childhood playtime] I played with Barbies but I used to decapitate them. I used to take their heads off then dye their hair and do weird things.
[on rumours that she will star in a current Lara Croft movie] I think that's a role that Angelina Jolie mastered, and I would never attempt to take that over from her.
When you think about it, we actors are kind of prostitutes. We get paid to feign attraction and love. Other people are paying to watch us kissing someone, touching someone, doing things people in a normal monogamous relationship would never do with anyone who's not their partner. It's really kind of gross.
[on her role in Jonah Hex (2010)] I'm sort of a tough, no-nonsense prostitute, like, she'll shoot you in the head if she has to. And she does. Actually, not in the head but I get to shoot someone somewhere. It's a lot of fun.
I like to cut through the bullshit. I don't like small talk and I don't like to have to be a cookie cutter. That's a quality I started to develop as a kid in middle school. You know how everybody goes into cliques and you all talk behind everyone's back? I thought it was so ignorant. So I just really started being completely honest with everybody all of the time. It gets me into trouble often, but, at the end of the day, I think it's a good quality to have. I have become a little more aware of the media's tendency to twist things that I say.
If you know how to take control of being a sex symbol, then it can be powerful. But I have no idea how to handle it yet, how to deal with it.
If your idea of a role model is somebody who's gonna preach to your kids that sex before marriage is wrong and cursing is wrong and women should be this and be that, then I'm not a role model. But if you want your girls to feel strong and intelligent and be outspoken and fight for what they think is right, then I want to be that type of role model, yeah.
[on rumors she turned down the role of the girl in the 23rd James Bond movie] No one ever talked to me about doing that movie. I would never turn something like that down.
[on getting down to 99 pounds while shooting Jennifer's Body (2009)] I decided I would turn myself into a zombie. I got super, super skinny, stayed out of the sun for four months, and got to where I was losing my eyelashes and my eyebrows.
[on the possibility of making a sex tape] Ugh, never! That's the last thing I want to see - what I look like having sex. It would take one shot of me not looking good and I would not be able to have sex ever again, as I would always just see myself looking like a hippo having sex. It lives forever, especially now, with the Internet. I just can't. I just can't. Everything you say gets judged, everything you do gets judged. Literally, all I have left are my private parts and I don't want to also share them with the world. I'd like to keep them private. That's why they're called that.
I was never a bad girl and still not. I challenged authority in school a little bit. Now I just speak my mind openly. That's who I am.
I like someone who has a super gentle spirit and energy, who's funny and has a good sense of humour - I'm really gentle, and so I like a boy who will treat me that way. I don't like boys who are mean to their mummies. That's a real turn off for me. And I don't like boys who aren't chivalrous. To me, not being respectful is a big deal.
I think that God or the universe, or whatever you believe in, gave men brute physical strength and gave women their sexuality. It's so easy to control men with it, so I don't know why I wouldn't embrace it and allow myself to be empowered by it.
I personally always find something really scary about watching little girls learning to manipulate their dads by baby talking. Then they grow up and use the same technique on their boyfriends or husbands. That scares me because it's just so sick on so many levels.
My sense of humor doesn't translate well into print, some of the things I say can be offensive or found offensive even though I don't mean them that way. So I have been told to try and censor myself here and there. I'm trying, but I'm not really succeeding at it.
I have no idea about my future career. I just hope that I can still be working in 10 years. When you're in something as successful as Transformers (2007), you can't use it as a sales piece for your ability as an actress because it's all about the special effects.
I am very vulnerable. But I can be aggressive, hurtful, domineering and selfish, too. I'm emotionally unpredictable and all over the place. I'm a control freak.
I was not "the slut" in high school. I was not an outcast but I didn't have a ton of friends. I got picked on, and I ate lunch in the bathroom because I was afraid of being picked on in the cafeteria. I was a loner, and I think that's okay. I think it's perfectly acceptable not to run with cliques.
Little girls are very much exposed to sexuality through the media and the entertainment industry and advertisements. So when you realise that you have the same power that you've watched women who've come before you have, it is frightening and you don't know what to do with it. I don't think you ever get comfortable with it. It's a strange, almost supernatural thing.
I have nine tattoos. All my boyfriends are required to have one and if they don't have one yet, I make them get a tattoo of my name or my face.
I don't like dry paper. Scripts, newspapers or anything that's not laminated, I have to keep licking my fingers. If I'm reading, I have a cup of water to dip my fingers in. I'm really neurotic.
I've been afraid of the dark all my life. I leave the lights on all the time and if the light is off, I have to run across the room to get to the switch. I can't walk through a dark room. I'm afraid of what I can't see.
There were some evil girls in my school and I went to Christian high school. I was fifteen and everybody knew that my aspiration in life was to become an actress. One girl came to school on Halloween in a black leather catsuit and everyone thought she was Catwoman. She answered, "No, I am Megan Fox." She was making fun of me. I didn't say anything to her. I was really shy. I've always gotten along better with boys. That rubbed some people the wrong way. I was not, ever for a second, popular. Everyone hated me, and I was a total outcast, my friends were always guys, I have a very aggressive personality, and girls didn't like me for that. I've had only one great girlfriend my whole life.
There are those who have a Google Alert on themselves and read everything everyone says and then there are those who pretend it isn't happening. I'm one of the latter. I could never pore over what's said about me. It wouldn't work. I'd be a complete lunatic, drug-addled and out of my mind. Instead, I stay in and ignore it all. I'm actually kind of a recluse.
... I've learned that being a celebrity is like being a sacrificial lamb. At some point, no matter how high the pedestal that they put you on, they're going to tear you down. And I created a character as an offering for the sacrifice. I'm not willing to give my true self up. It's a testament to my real personality that I would go so far as to make up another personality to give to the world. The reality is, I'm hidden amongst all the insanity. Nobody can find me.
If I had been a typical starlet and said all the right things, I wouldn't have escalated to this level. I sit down and do an interview and I talk like a person and that, for some reason, is shocking. All women in Hollywood are known as sex symbols. You're sold, and it's based on sex. That's okay, if you know how to use it.
Sometimes, I so desperately want to clarify. I recently had an urge to get a Twitter account to explain myself. But me contradicting a news story is not going to make my words fact. It will just create a new news story. There's no solving this: it's completely its own monster. You have to come up with clever ways of getting your control back.
I know that the things they said about me in the crew letter were not true, but Michael Bay is not happy with some of the things I've said about him. I was waiting for someone to defend me, to say, "That's not accurate", but nobody did. I think it's because I'm a girl. They left me out there to be bludgeoned to death -- on the letter that some of the crew of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009) sent out.
When I sit down to talk to men's magazines, there's a certain character that I play. She's not fully fleshed out -- she doesn't have her own name -- but she shows up to do men's magazine interviews. There's something so ridiculous about always being in your underwear in those magazines, and you know the interview is going to run opposite those pictures. So there's a character that talks to all of them.
People compare me to Angelina Jolie, and she's so serious and stoic. I'm the opposite. When I do interviews, I say things that I think are hysterical. But because we live in a world of sound bites, you're not allowed to have a sense of humor. Sarcasm doesn't translate in print at all. And neither does self-deprecating humor. I'm not a tigress like Angelina. Of course, people want me to be. But I want to be the contradiction of that.
I feel like that's my purpose in life, to do charity work and help people around the world on a global level. Being part of this business, you have so much influence and you can really make a difference. I'm drawn towards the idea of somehow helping children.
[on her classic red 1966 Mustang Fastback Christmas present from Brian Austin Green] We were going through cars on eBay and I found one in really good condition that was beautiful and for a good price.
[on her height] I'm tiny, and people think that I'm 5' 10" or that I'm big. They think celebrities are larger than life, and I'm really short. I'm 5' 4".
[on her dream role] I like playing psychos, so any kind of mentally-disturbed female is fun for me.
There are some women you could put in underwear and photograph them, and it looks really classy and it doesn't necessarily provoke a pinup image. But with me it does, immediately, as soon as I'm in underwear. I'm a Vargas girl.
I feel intimidated by fashion. I hate doing photo shoots.
I don't trust people in this industry. But I especially don't trust girls in this industry, because it's incredibly competitive, and I'm just not interested.
No one believes me when I talk about this, but I'm really maternal. I worry that because I've always wanted [kids] so much, as the world goes sometimes, I won't be able to have them. Even though I would be able to provide them with such an amazing environment.
I am a stepmother to the fullest extent. I have looked after Kassius since he was three and he has no memory of life without me. For some reason, no one wants to look at me that way, but I am responsible for him and I've never struggled with that, from bedtime stories to the school run.
I've only been with two men my entire life. My childhood sweetheart and Brian. I can never have sex with someone that I don't love, ever. The idea makes me sick. I've never even come close to having a one-night stand.
I think people are born bisexual and they make subconscious choices based on the pressures of society. I have no question in my mind about being bisexual. But I'm also a hypocrite. I would never date a girl who was bisexual, because that means they also sleep with men, and men are so dirty that I'd never want to sleep with a girl who had slept with a man.
I've lived the life of a 35-year-old since I was 18. I'm so suspicious of boys-slash-men. I just don't like them or trust them.
Daniel Day-Lewis is incredibly successful, and he's not being followed by the paparazzi. You put yourself in that position. You never see Nicole Kidman in the tabloids like you see Britney Spears and Jessica Simpson. If I were to go out and make a scene in every club in New York and L.A., eventually I would start getting a lot of press in the tabloids. But is that something I want?
[on her fear of flying] I developed that when I turned 20. All of a sudden, I got really afraid to get on airplanes. I had to come up with a way to deal with it because I didn't want to have panic attacks every time I get on a plane. I know for a fact it's not in my destiny to die listening to a Britney Spears album, so I always put that on when I'm flying because I know it won't crash if I've got Britney on.
[on her skin tone in Transformers (2007)] I had been tanning a lot so that [director Michael Bay] would be happy with my skin tone. Every spare moment of sun that was outside, I had to be in it. It's not going to happen again because of the damage and the possible skin cancer.
I'm wary of doing romantic comedies; you could end up doing them all the time. Business-wise, those movies are very safe. They're tailored to Middle America. But I'm 24, I don't belong in a romantic comedy yet. A black comedy like Jennifer's Body (2009) maybe, but I don't know if I could do The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005) or something.
[on what movie she would remake] Well, they couldn't remake it because it would destroy it, but I've always loved The Lost Boys (1987). The female character in it is not really amazing, but if you were to turn one of the male characters into a female, I would love to do that. That movie has stuck with me my whole life. There's something magic about it to me.
When I talk about my husband, I feel as if people roll their eyes. It's like when you're 16 and order a martini, and the waiter says, "Do you think I'm stupid?". They can't grasp that I'm old enough to be married.
Getting married was the best thing I've ever done.
I've been a stepmother for six years and it's amazing... I really enjoy it. It's a lot of work but I like it. It grounds me. I like being domestic. I would love to be a biological mommy some day. That would make me very happy.
I have a really offbeat, weird, dark sense of humor. My sense of humor doesn't really mesh well with sitcom television.
I've done drugs, and that's how I know I don't like them. I tried several things in order to make an informed decision, but I didn't enjoy anything other than marijuana.
I've met endless so-called beautiful people who don't seem to have personalities or a direction in life. They've never been forced to develop their characters because they're viewed as being so attractive. So I think beauty can be a mask.
I'm horrible to live with. I don't clean. My clothes end up wherever I take them off. I forget to flush the toilet. Friends will tell me, "Megan, you totally pinched a loaf in my toilet and didn't flush.".
You won't believe this, but I never go out. I don't like drunk, sweaty people whose only goal is to have sex. I stay home and play computer backgammon. Every once in a while, I go to Color Me Mine to do pottery.
I've worked with people who have been difficult to work with, but have been male. And there is never a complaint made about them. There is never an issue made about them. I have friends who are actresses, who if they go to work one day and they show up on set and they don't have a smile on their face they're tagged a bitch and that is really unfortunate. But I can't single-handedly change that process, but I'm trying.
[on director Michael Bay]: He's like Napoleon and he wants to create this insane, infamous madman reputation. He wants to be like Hitler on his sets, and he is.
I always wanted to be blonde when I was little, like Barbie and Pamela Anderson, but it would really damage my hair. It was exotic to me, as my entire family has dark hair. If I did it, I would go white blonde - really platinum.
I try to keep my make-up fresh, clean and pretty on the red carpet. My signature look is red lipstick worn with plain eyes, so I apply a light foundation, then on my cheeks I use blush or sometimes the same lipstick that I'm wearing. Giorgio Armani Rouge d'Armani Lipstick in 400, contrasts well with my pale complexion and dark hair.
[on her naval piercing] I did it when I was 16-years-old because I was a fan of Britney Spears. The only time I tried to imitate someone else. But then I thought it was tacky and so I removed it when I turned 20.
Mickey [Mickey Rourke] is such a beautiful, wonderful human being. He's so genuine and so sweet and so talented. I just love him to death. I actually got a tattoo that is sort of in honor of him. It's on my ribs. (The tattoo is on the right side of her rib cage and reads: "Those who danced were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music").
[on her Marilyn Monroe tattoo] I was stubborn and thought I was going to love it forever, or that it would be a book of my life, all the things I loved when I was young. It's not that way at all. I'm removing it. It is a negative character, as she suffered from personality disorders and was bipolar. I do not want to attract this kind of negative energy in my life.
Of course, I have a lot of flaws. But I do not tell them - ever.
[when asked on what she would say to Megatron to keep him from destroying the world] I'd barter with him and say, "Instead of the entire planet, can you just take out all of the white trash, hillbilly, anti-gay, super Bible-beating people in Middle America?".
I think that I'm so psychotic and so mentally ill, that if I could tap into that, I could do something really interesting.
I haven't gone completely insane, but it might happen soon.
I'm the biggest nerd - I love comic books and stuff like that!
Any casting couch shit I've experienced has been "since" I've become famous.
I absolutely want biological children. I've always wanted kids. It's just about the timing. I have it in my mind about what amount of money I want in the bank so that I can protect that child's future, and really protect it, so that kid never struggles. Once I feel safe with that, then I'll have kids.
I don't want to have to be like a Scarlett Johansson - who I have nothing against - but I don't want to have to go on talk shows and pull out every SAT word I've ever learned to prove, like, "Take me seriously, I am intelligent, I can speak." I don't want to have to do that. I resent having to prove that I'm not a retard - but I do. And part of it is my own fault.
If you eat Chinese food, your farts come out like Chinese food. If you eat Mexican food, your farts come out like Mexican food. And milk, it's like - you can smell the warmth in the fart.
[In the 2009 September/October issue of Wonderland on mental illness] I basically read every book ever written about Marilyn Monroe. I could end up like that because I constantly struggle with the idea that I think I'm a borderline personality - or that I have bouts of mild schizophrenia. I definitely have some kind of mental problem and I haven't pinpointed what it is.
I have a really badass personality. I'm smart and I can be really funny and interesting and I can go toe-to-toe with anybody in a conversation. So I'm not afraid to speak, and I think that's what people read as this überconfidence. I have a mouth and I'm not afraid to use it.
[on being fired from Transformers (2007) and on Shia LaBeouf] I didn't want to talk about it while they're on the press tour because I didn't want to try to throw mud at them. I didn't want that movie to suffer. Especially because I love Shia. I wanted that movie to do well for him. I didn't want to have this big media war over something that really was so silly and it would have just been my ego needing to engage in a war, at that point. Of course, there will be a time when I want to tell my side of the story. I just don't feel it was appropriate while they were promoting the movie.
I'm so suspicious of all boys-slash-men. I just don't like them or trust them. They're boys, they're easily toyed with. I tell stories and have them eating out of my hand. Not all of it is true. In fact, most of it is bullshit.
[on removing her Marilyn Monroe tattoo] You outgrow things that you love when you were a child. I got it when I was 18 and now I'm 25 and it just doesn't make sense anymore. [The removal process] is a hundred times worse than the tattoo itself. I've only done one [session] so I probably have three or four left. I think it will come off completely because I have the right skin type to remove ink. The more fair-skinned you are, the easier it is to remove dark ink, and I'm as fair as it gets.
I would really love to go on an archaeological dig. I have an offer to go somewhere in England but I would rather go to Egypt or Syria or some place like that.
I could go days, weeks, without talking to another human being.
I hate receiving compliments; I hate being told I'm talented or people think I'm going to be a movie star. I always feel that it's forced and fake.
I'll starve to death before I'll cook for myself. I think I could survive a week without eating.
[on Rosie Huntington-Whiteley who appeared in Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011)] I haven't seen it so I don't know what she's like in it but I think, having seen her around, she's a very likable girl and I don't think she did anything wrong by taking that part. I mean Mike (Michael Bay) wanted her in the movie. She was a model and she was like "Yeah, I'll be in Transformers 3." And I've only heard good things about her so I have nothing negative to say.
I can't cook at all - I can make only Hot Pockets and Eggo Waffles.
[on guys she liked] I've always gone for skinny, tattooed musician-types who wear women's pants and nail polish. That's because I grew up obsessed with Nirvana and Motley Crue.
[on having an obsessive compulsive disorder] This is a sickness, I have an illness, this is not okay anymore.
My temper is ridiculously bad. I've had to say to Brian, "You have to go and stop talking to me, because I'm going to kill you. I'm going to stab you with something, please leave." I'd never own a gun for that reason. I wouldn't shoot to kill. But I would shoot him in the leg, for sure.
Boys in their twenties are a waste of time. They have nothing to offer conversationally; they're immature. I feel like I have a better shot with someone in his thirties. I've lived the life of a 35-year-old since I was 18. I'm so suspicious of boys-slash-men. I just don't like them or trust them.
I have no question in my mind about being bisexual. But I'm also a hypocrite: I would never date a girl who was bisexual, because that means they also sleep with men, and men are so dirty that I'd never want to sleep with a girl who had slept with a man.
I can't be naked in front of people. I do have a 22-inch waist, I will say that.
[on her favorite movie] I mean that's such a hard question to answer but if you're talking about a movie that I'll watch a million times, The Lord of the Rings series I will watch over and over again. And also the recent Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011), I feel like that is an excellent movie. I watch it all the time and I cry every time I watch it. I love it. It's funny, you cry, it's beautifully shot, I love everyone in it.
[on parenting] (It) is definitely the most difficult. There is the most reward in it, but there is also the most pressure, guilt and worry. I've never really socialized, I've always been antisocial and preferred to be at home. I was never, even my late teens and early twenties, into clubs and parties and stuff like that. So I feel like the transition will be fairly easy, in that sense, for me.
I feel like if you are with someone through the process of pregnancy and delivery, if nothing else, there is such an incredible amount of respect that would lead into some sort of love in one way or another.
[on lists ranking the most beautiful women in Hollywood] You know, lists like this - and there are plenty - generally, we elect the girl who plays in the biggest blockbuster of the year.
[2008] Some of the women considered to be the sexiest women alive look that way only because they've had three nose jobs and their jaw lines shaved down. Sure, they're perfect now, but they didn't start out that way.
I'm not pretentious enough to just sit around and think about how I'm a tool for the whole Hollywood machine. But it has crossed my mind.
I did take baton-twirling lessons for a while. I was on a jump-rope team when I was in 10th grade. We were called the Jumping Jackets.
I don't want to open my mouth or speak anymore, because everything I say becomes scandalous. It wears you out... so I'm a bit jaded.
I mean, I don't sit around and say, "Gosh, I have to do this movie with this person." I really, honestly, am much more focused on my personal life.
It feels like a lot of energy coming through the top of your head - I'm going to sound like such a lunatic - and then your whole body is filled with this electric current. And you just start speaking, but you're not thinking because you have no idea what you're saying. Words are coming out of your mouth, and you can't control it. The idea is that it's a language that only God understands. It's the language that's spoken in heaven. It's called "getting the Holy Ghost". I have to feel like I'm in control of my body. And I know what you're thinking: Then why would I want to go to church and speak in tongues? You have to understand, there I feel safe. I was raised to believe that you're safe in God's hands. But I don't feel safe with myself.
I believe he's (Brian Austin Green) my soul mate. But that doesn't mean it doesn't take work, because we are very, very different.
[on the media and not watching news] Everything makes me cry. Because everyone is someone's child, every woman seems like someone's mother. I have so much more patience for people and women in general.
I'm going to be more cautious about choosing films because I'm already thinking about when he's in school and his friends are going to be showing him my photo shoots with me in a bikini and he's (her son) going to be horrified. So that will deter me from making some of the choices I made before.
I can't stand pills. I don't like drinking. I don't like feeling out of control. I have to feel like I'm in control of my body. And I know what you're thinking: Then why would I want to go to church and speak in tongues? You have to understand, there I feel safe.
It's very hard for me to do this stuff because I feel like this isn't my job anymore. My job is to be with him. All I wanted to do my whole, whole life was have a baby and, now, I've finally done it. I just want to give Noah as much of myself as I can. Maybe it's just because I don't know any different. I've never been validated by work or fame of Hollywood or any of that.
[on her "bombshell" image] I felt powerless in that image. I didn't feel powerful. It ate every other part of my personality, not for me but for how people saw me, because there was nothing else to see or know. That devalued me. Because I wasn't anything. I was an image. I was a picture. I was a pose.
I've never really socialized, I've always been antisocial and preferred to be at home. I was never, even my late teens and early twenties, into clubs and parties and stuff like that.
I don't think people understand. They all think we should shut the fuck up and stop complaining because you live in a big house or you drive a Bentley. So your life must be so great. What people don't realize is that fame, whatever your worst experience in high school, when you were being bullied by those ten kids in high school, fame is that, but on a global scale, where you're being bullied by millions of people constantly.
[on Michael Bay] I've always loved Michael. We've had our battles in the past but even when I've been really outspoken about difficulties we've had, I've always followed up by saying that I have a particular affinity to him. He can be very vulnerable, and he's very likeable and loveable. I've always been very vocal about that as well. But sometimes, we clash because we both have very willful, powerful personalities.
[on her "trademark pin-up appeal"] I don't really mind. It's actually a large part of my personality. I think you can be that and you can also be intelligent and strong. I don't think they're in opposition to one another - at least in my life.
[at San Diego Comic-Con 2014, asked if she's always been a "nerd" to which she says she is not, but]: I've always been an outcast and a loner. I'm not a social butterfly. I don't have a lot of friends. I definitely didn't have friends in high school or middle school. I've always sort of felt like the odd person out and like I don't belong here. So you know, if I could, like, put on a T-shirt and walk the floor and be in the convention, I really would, like, do that because I feel like this is the perfect place to come [for those] who don't necessarily feel like they fit in.
[on April O'Neil in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014)] [April] is an ambitious journalist that's not making it the way that she wants to be because people underestimate her. [sarcastic] I couldn't possibly relate to that.
[at San Diego Comic-Con 2014] I was here for Jennifer's Body (2009) where I was a man-eating zombie, and I was here for Jonah Hex (2010) where I was a prostitute with a heart of a gold. And April is neither of those things.
[when asked on how she felt about the backlash online against Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014)] Let me tell you something about those people. How much money did Transformers 4 make? Exactly. Those people can complain - they all go to the theater. They're gonna love it - and if they don't love it, they can fuck off, and that's the end of that.
The first time I ever met him [Michael Bay], I was 15 and I was an extra on Bad Boys II. We were shooting this club scene, and they brought me in, and I was wearing a stars and stripes bikini and a red cowboy hat, and six-inch heels. And they took me to Mike and he approved it. And they said, "You know, Michael, she's 15, so you can't sit her at the bar and she can't have a drink in her hand." So his solution to that problem was to then have me dancing underneath a waterfall getting soaking wet. And that's... At 15. I was in 10th grade. So that's sort of a microcosm of how Bay's mind works.
I could go days, weeks, without talking to another human being. I hate receiving compliments; I hate being told I'm talented or people think I'm going to be a movie star. I always feel that it's forced and fake.
[on plastic surgery] I would encourage anyone to first speak with a therapist, to try and figure out where this want comes from, because a lot of times it's not related to your teeth or your nose or your chin - the surgery is not going to alleviate that insecurity for you. If, then, you feel, "This is something that I want to do", then do it. It's amazing that we have the technology to do the stuff that we do.
I love the beach, and I love sunshine.
To be outspoken, or different at all, is a problem for women.
My mother made me wear a dark wig when I was two. She started dyeing my hair dark when I was about five because she didn't like my blonde hair. Everyone thinks my hair is naturally dark brown or black but it's not. My natural hair color is actually golden blonde. Got my blonde hair from my grandmother. My sons got my natural blonde hair.
I'm one of those people who fiercely guards their privacy, so I hate doing interviews.
I try to live with the idea that karma is a very real thing. So I put out what I want to get back.
I'm not a big family person. I'm more of a loner.
I just really want it at some point to be OK for women and young girls to be sexy because I think that's a power, a gift that we were given by God or the universe or whatever.
I'm very confident in how I project my personality.
I think you accidentally learn things in high school that turn out to be life lessons when you are able to step back a bit and study them in more depth.
I like the bad-boy types. Generally the guy I'm attracted to is the guy in the club with all the tattoos and nail polish. He's usually the lead singer in a punk band and plays guitar. But my serious boyfriends are relatively clean-cut, nice guys. So it's strange.
I've actually stopped tinting my windows because the paparazzi look for trucks and cars with super tinted windows.
I'm not a 'sexy' 'beautiful' woman. It takes a lot of work to make me look like a girl.
I have no problem with commitment - you can't have a real relationship without it. I can flip on a switch in my brain, and even if the next Brad Pitt is standing next to me, I won't look at him. But I can also turn that switch off, and then I collect attractive boys.
There's a misconception that maybe I'm overly confident or a little vapid or that I am a stereotypical, bratty, spoiled girl who doesn't have much to bring to the table other than how people perceive her physically.
I think once you enter the dating world and you realise it's nothing like those Disney movies you watched when you were a little girl, you just become more guarded.
I am a stepmother to the fullest extent.
My biggest regret is that I've assisted the media in making me into a cartoon character. I don't regret what has happened to me, but I regret the way I have dealt with it.
I don't like feeling out of control. I have to feel like I'm in control of my body.
I resent having to prove that I'm not a retard.
I don't need someone else's power. I'm obtaining my own.
I grew up craving the spotlight, and once it happened, I immediately recoiled.
If I really buckle down, I think one day I could be a very good actress.
I like funny guys and those, for some reason, tend to be nerdy guys.
I want to be as pretty as Robert Pattinson.
I'm a passionate individual, and sometimes when I have strong feelings about a subject, I feel the need to express myself.
I am pretty sure I am a doppelgänger for Alan Alda. I'm a tranny. I'm a man. I'm so painfully insecure. I'm on the verge of vomiting now. I am so horrified and embarrassed.
I'm not afraid to be sexy, a woman who is intelligent and also knows how to weaponize her beauty... there's nothing more dangerous than that. There's nothing more powerful than that. Embrace the fact that as the divine feminine, we have a lot of power. Instead of rejecting it, I'm happy to embrace it and go for the sexy.
