10 Things You Didn't Know About Shailene Woodley

Shailene Woodley is a Golden Globe-nominated actress and the kick-ass star of the latest chapter in the Divergent saga, Insurgent, but there's plenty of other fun facts you may not know about the quirky and talented 23-year-old. In anticipation of Insurgent, we picked out 10 things about the actress (who gained the attention of fans with her work on The Secret Life of the American Teenager and has since wowed critics thanks to her big screen performances in films such as The Descendants, The Spectacular Now, and The Fault in Our Stars) we found fascinating.

Woodley is BFFs with Fellow Rising Star Brie Larson 

It's no surprise that these supremely talented, no-frills stars became pals (as Larson put it in a New York magazine profile piece on their friendship, "When Shai and I met each other, it was boom!") and even less surprising that they build each other up, rather than tear each other down in the hyper-competitive world of Hollywood. When these two aren't hanging out or attending each other's premieres, they are singing each other's praises. Woodley said in that same article, "We have a primal connection."

She is One with Nature

According to Bustle.com, the hippie-esque star — who admitted that she eats clay — has also claimed that she forages for food and can identify wild plants, and even gathers her own spring water from mountains. The spritely, spiritual Woodley makes her own toothpaste, is one with the trees, and says that if she wasn't an actress, she'd probably be an herbalist.

She Doesn't Own a Cell Phone!

Who ya gonna call? Well, certainly not Shailene Woodley. In an interview with the Daily Beast in 2014, she said, "I don’t even have a smartphone. I don’t even have a cellphone! And if I were to have one, it would be a flip-phone... I’m talking to people more than I’ve ever talked to in my life because I no longer have that [phone] crutch. The more you get away from all the technological buzz, the more freedom you have."

She Turned Down the Opportunity to Audition for Fifty Shades of Grey 

Woodley is no stranger to massively successful big screen adaptations of popular books, but it's still hard to imagine the earthy actress playing the submissive Anastasia Steele in Fifty Shades of Grey. Woodley was apparently asked to audition for the part (which, as we all know, eventually went to Dakota Johnson) but the star realized her plate was too full with this sort of thing. (No, not S&M.) According to PerezHilton.com, Woodley admitted, "I didn’t want to audition for it. It’s because I had already done Divergent and I knew there was no way I wanted to do multiple franchises at the same time, because that’s crazy, so I didn’t see the point in it."

She's Not Immune to Controversy

While the actress is one of the most beloved young stars out there, it doesn't mean she hasn't ruffled a few feathers along the way. In a now-infamous interview with Time, Woodley raised eyebrows when she said she doesn't identify as a feminist because "I love men, and I think the idea of ‘raise women to power, take the men away from the power’ is never going to work out because you need balance. With myself, I’m very in touch with my masculine side." The Internet was none-too-thrilled with the statement, but Woodley later tried to clarify what she meant during a chat on Entertainment Weekly Radio’s Women on Pop show, saying, "For me the big thing in life is about sisterhood. Bringing sisters together and supporting one another. What I found so funny and so sad about that article is that I talked about that the entire time."

Find out what movies make Shailene tear up.

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 She Has a Very Unconventional Alarm Clock 

During a chat with Interview magazine back in 2013, Woodley said that she starts the day by screaming very loudly, "'Good morning! Good morning!'... 'Exciting day! Exciting day!' I feel like it completely sets the mood for the whole day." That sure sets a mood, alright.

She Was Diagnosed with Scoliosis When She Was 15-Years-Old

The actress had to wear a plastic brace for 18 hours a day as a teen, but would take it off for filming.

Like Most Actresses, She's Been Romantically Linked to Her Leading Men 

The tabloids have put Woodley with pretty much all of her male co-stars, from Ansel Elgort to Theo James to Miles Teller. While Woodley stays relatively mum about her love life, Teller went ahead and cleared up their romance rumor in an interview with Elle, assuring the magazine, "I've never dated Shailene. She would probably be repulsed by the thought. She saw me eat a Honey Bun two years ago."

George Clooney is Her Mentor/Second Dad

The pair played father and daughter in the Oscar-winning dramedy The Descendants and formed an unbreakable bond. Not only has Woodley hung at Clooney's house in Lake Como ("[He's] a great host") but in an interview with Vanity Fair described him as, "An angel in my life."

She's a Philanthropist, Too

After filming the cancer drama The Fault in Our Stars, Woodley donated her locks to the organization Children with Hair Loss and joined up with them to create the Hair for Hazel campaign, urging others to do the same.

[Photo Credit: Getty Images]