Rob Kim/Getty ImagesThe rumors are true: Evan Rachel Wood is still a Belieber. The Charlie Countryman actress has been unabashed about her affections for Justin Bieber, and in a Nov. 16 interview with The Daily Beast, the 26-year-old movie star speaks out in defense of the troublemaking pop star.
"I can't imagine what it's like to be him," Wood said of Bieber, 19. "When you're a teenager in an adult career, people expect you to be perfect and expect you to never make mistakes or to be a reckless teenager. And then when you are, they give you such a really hard time for it. You have to remind them that you're still a kid."
Though she's been acting since age 9, Wood said she never faced the amount of scrutiny that today's young stars do. "I was never a Bieber or a Cyrus, but I think the judgment was there, sure," she said.
The judgment was especially apparent when she dated Marilyn Manson. At the time, Wood was 19 and the rocker was 36. "People were pretty mean," she admitted of her former fiancé. "At the time I hadn't yet been exposed to that kind of cruelty from strangers. If people were wondering why I was acting so-called crazy or like a teenager, it's because I was. People go through phases. People make mistakes. People go through life and don't get it right every time."
But Wood has gotten it right with Jamie Bell, her husband of 13 months. The actors welcomed a baby boy in July, but they've yet to share his name with the world.
"People obviously know I was pregnant—can't hide that—so I have no problem talking about the baby and that we're doing really well," the former True Blood star told The Daily Beast. "But I haven't released his name. I've done my best to keep his picture from being taken, just because kids don't really have a choice in the matter. It'' such a shame when kids get harassed just because of who their parents are before they're old enough to decide who they are or who they want to be."