Jacqueline Fernandez Takes the Cosmo Quiz

"My best friend in the industry is Sonam Kapoor."

07 July, 2021

Jacqueline Fernandez Takes the Cosmo Quiz

What had frightened her about acting at the start (her lack of skill) ebbed away with practice, and delving into the research of her craft. What scares her now is almost antithetic to her camera- confidence from the early days. “I’m more aware than ever of how sensitive the moving camera is now. It picks up things you’re not even thinking about. That’s bloody terrifying!”

She admits it’s not the first self- perception she’s made a sharp U-turn on. “I’ve started doubting my own belief system about relationships lately. In my head, I’ve always been a hard-core commitment girl, with this big idea of the ‘ideal love’ making my thoughts murky, but...” She breaks the thought- train for a moment to laugh, because she’s just remember how epically badly her first love turned out. “Oh God, it was a disaster. So: a little background. I have three siblings—my sister Geraldine (my main confidant in our family), and my brothers Ryan and Warren. My brothers did not take well to the first boy I dated. I was 14 years old at the time, and we had started dating in secret,” she smiles. “Man, my brothers found out about it—and it was mad. I think there was a legit fist-fight and everything! Obviously, they sent him running—but I continued to pine for him for a long time after that,” she sighs, eyelashes batting facetiously.
She then circles back to her original point about commitment by declaring that it’s the travelling-constantly-for- work thing that’s made her rethink that slant. “I think I’ve been too rigid, and it hasn’t gotten me anywhere. I need to go out and give things a chance. Like, my entire team when I was shooting for Judwaa 2 in London was on Tinder, and okay, I almost did it!” she laughs.

But, um, you’re a celebrity, Jacqueline. Just thought we’d remind you. “That’s what my team said! But I had a cunning plan. I’d change my name so no-one would know it was me. Eventually, though, the cast and crew convinced me that I’d still be recognised, so I was (sadly) talked out of my grand scheme.” But she’s more pro Tinder (and any dating apps on the market) than most people you’ll meet. “I love, love the concept! Finding a date in half an hour—how wicked-cool is that? You have no idea how upsetting it is to me that I can’t be on it,” she says, her remorse almost palpable.

We latch on to her use of the word ‘upsetting’ to segue into the last two times we saw that word pop up on our feed in confluence with her name. A) in context to the whole Justin Bieber thing, and B) about her unswerving stance on fairness creams.

The mention of Bieber elicits a frustrated little cry, followed by an “Oh, dear God! I’m glad I get to clear the air on the whole Bieber debacle!” So, just in case you’ve living under a rock, the media has been teeming with over-peppered stories about how Jacqueline is terribly miffed at Justin Bieber for snubbing her at the after-party she hosted for him. “Okay, wait, what afterparty? Where would I have hosted this after-party? I was just invited to fly down to his concert and be treated like a VIP. And I did—and was. I wasn’t ‘miffed’ by anything either; I didn’t even meet the guy because he was only here for 24 hours!”

The latter, however, was not a baseless rumour. “I meant it when I said I’d never endorse a fairness cream. I’ve grown up seeing this kind of product damaging people who already have issues about their self-image, and it just makes it so much worse. Some brands have been shocked that I’ve said that, but I don’t care. I absolutely will not be a part of breeding miscommunication.”