"When people say 'You're so beautiful,' it makes me want to kill myself! As an actress, you want to be seen for what you do, for the characters you can play, otherwise I'd be a model"
About this Quote
The line works because it’s both defensive and aspirational. Defensive, in the way it draws a hard boundary: don’t mistake my appearance for my value. Aspirational, because it insists on a hierarchy where acting is labor, range, and risk - and modeling is the cultural shorthand for being looked at rather than listened to. That last clause, "otherwise I'd be a model", is pointed not because modeling is inherently lesser, but because it exposes the narrow roles women are offered: be decorative, be silent, be grateful.
Context matters: Green’s career has been shadowed by the "mysterious beauty" label, with many of her high-profile roles trading on allure and danger. She’s pushing back against the trap of being cast as an aesthetic mood board. The subtext is a demand for recognition that doesn’t require self-erasure: see me as a person making choices, not an object being evaluated.
Quote Details
| Topic | Career |
|---|---|
| Source | Verified source: Eva Green: Green Shoots (British Vogue) (Eva Green, 2010)
Evidence: "WHEN people say 'You're so beautiful' it makes me want to kill myself!" Eva Green confesses as we catch up with the actress to talk about her new film, Cracks. "As an actress you want to be seen for what you do, for the characters you can play, otherwise I'd be a model.". This quote appears verbatim at the top of British Vogue’s article titled “Green Shoots,” credited to Lauren Milligan and dated 26 March 2010. This is a primary-source publication (a contemporaneous Vogue interview/write-up quoting Eva Green), and is earlier than the many later quote-aggregation sites that repeat it. Other candidates (1) The Films and Career of Eva Green (Luke Strongman, 2023) compilation98.9% ... When people say " You're so beautiful " it makes me want to kill myself ! As an actress you want to be seen for w... |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Green, Eva. (2026, February 16). When people say 'You're so beautiful,' it makes me want to kill myself! As an actress, you want to be seen for what you do, for the characters you can play, otherwise I'd be a model. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/when-people-say-youre-so-beautiful-it-makes-me-65803/
Chicago Style
Green, Eva. "When people say 'You're so beautiful,' it makes me want to kill myself! As an actress, you want to be seen for what you do, for the characters you can play, otherwise I'd be a model." FixQuotes. February 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/when-people-say-youre-so-beautiful-it-makes-me-65803/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"When people say 'You're so beautiful,' it makes me want to kill myself! As an actress, you want to be seen for what you do, for the characters you can play, otherwise I'd be a model." FixQuotes, 16 Feb. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/when-people-say-youre-so-beautiful-it-makes-me-65803/. Accessed 18 Feb. 2026.







