Claire Danes Covers Vogue, Talks Being Bullied by "Mean Girls"

Star shares about her life before Homeland

By Cinya Burton Jul 15, 2013 6:37 PMTags
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Homeland's third season may still be months away, but Claire Danes and Damian Lewis are already back in character.

Sergeant Nicholas Brody and Carrie Mathison reunited in a series of sexy photos shot by Annie Leibovitz for Vogue magazine's August 2013 issue.

As for the cover, Claire posed solo in a espionage-inspired Burberry Prorsum trench coat (collar popped, of course).

Inside the magazine, the actress says although she plays a tough spy on TV, in real life she wasn't always such a badass.

The Golden Globe winner shares that she changed junior high school three times because of bullying "mean girls."  She goes on to say that her costar and fellow NYC Lab School for Collaborative Studies alum Morena Baccarin have even bonded over another scary actress, whom Danes says is "still in the business."

Yet for all the negative women in Hollywood, Hugh Dancy's wife says there are also so many inspiring, kind gals that she looks up to.

"I've had conversations with them. Meryl [Streep], Susan Sarandon, Jodie Foster," she says, adding that she's learned things like: "You have to pick your battles on set. You have to come to work from a place of love. You have to stay hydrated when you have crying scenes. You have to go to college. And you have to ask for money because there's always more money and they won't give it to you because you're a girl!" 

When it comes to the up-and-coming generation of actresses, Claire says there are two that really stick out to her.

"I'm so impressed by Jennifer Lawrence and Carey Mulligan," she says. "They have this exquisite taste. They are very gifted in their ability to make great choices. I didn't have that rudder."

Naturally most of Hollywood has similar praised Danes and her uncanny ability to truly identity with characters, even a bipolar CIA agent. But the 34-year-old says it's not as easy as it seems:

"I always have the fear that I won't be able to do it, because I am convinced that it's left me and I don't know how I managed it before...You just hold out for those rare moments when you feel a real fusion with this imagined person. It's really like surfing. You get that wave and think, All right, I can be in freezing-cold water at 5 a.m. in the hopes that I will get one. And maybe you get three of those a year."