"It's sad when girls think they don't have anything going on except being pretty"
About this Quote
Russell's phrasing matters. "Think they don't have anything going on" points at the psychological trick, not a natural reality. It names insecurity as something produced - by compliments that land like cages, by media that rewards a narrow look, by social feedback loops where being "pretty" is legible and everything else requires proof. Even the casual "going on" is doing work: it suggests complexity, talent, humor, ambition, contradiction - the messy, interesting stuff that doesn't photograph as easily.
As an actress, Russell is speaking from inside an industry that literalizes this problem: casting calls that reduce women to "type", press cycles that obsess over bodies, careers that can be reshaped by a haircut or a rumor. She isn't grandstanding; she's flagging a cost. When prettiness becomes identity, it can crowd out experimentation and risk. You optimize for approval instead of building a self that can survive disapproval.
The line lands because it refuses to flatter the listener. It doesn't say, "You're beautiful too". It says: if beauty is all you think you are, someone has already edited you.
Quote Details
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Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Russell, Keri. (2026, January 16). It's sad when girls think they don't have anything going on except being pretty. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/its-sad-when-girls-think-they-dont-have-anything-87069/
Chicago Style
Russell, Keri. "It's sad when girls think they don't have anything going on except being pretty." FixQuotes. January 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/its-sad-when-girls-think-they-dont-have-anything-87069/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"It's sad when girls think they don't have anything going on except being pretty." FixQuotes, 16 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/its-sad-when-girls-think-they-dont-have-anything-87069/. Accessed 21 Feb. 2026.





