The title of “America’s Sweetheart” doesn’t fit Mandy Moore anymore, and she’s more than okay with that. In an Oct. 9 cover story for Glamour magazine’s November issue, the This Is Us star opens up about her inner struggles, her awakening experience with divorce and eventually, finding her own happy ending.
“I think those particular descriptors prevented me from finding momentum, work wise, because people saw me in one light,” she says about the “nice girl” label that has followed her since the 2000s, adding that “there’s more to who I am.”
Moore, who leads NBC’s hit This Is Us, finds herself in the summit of her career — for the star, the series allowed her to show people that she’s much more than the nice girl in your favorite romantic comedy. “I’m a woman now. I’ve been married and divorced. I’ve had ups and downs, professionally and personally,” she adds.
Her career wasn’t the only thing she struggled with in the past. Moore, who married musician Ryan Adams in 2009, filled for divorce in 2016, claiming that their relationship was unhealthy. “Not the smartest decision. I didn’t choose the right person,” she admits. The singer/actress says she felt “spiritually and fundamentally stuck” leading up to the divorce, and that her career and friendships suffered for it. “I don’t feel guilty for it. I don’t fault myself for it,” she shares. “When people said, ‘I’m sorry,’ I was like, ‘No. Sorry would have been had I stayed in a very unhealthy situation.’ I didn’t. I found my way out. And when I did, things opened back up again.”
They surely did when in a very modern Cinderella story, Moore met current fiance Taylor Goldsmith — the front man of Dawes — in 2015. After posting a photo on Instagram praising the band, Goldsmith contacted her to say thanks. “I was still dealing with the trauma of my divorce when we started dating,” she shares. “Taylor was steadfast in his support — that was a huge sign for me.”
Finding her own happy ending, Moore is ready to re-write her love story once her and Goldsmith tie the knot later this year. “He makes me melt. I can imagine no better partner,” she says, adding that she views her past as a stepping-stone to get where she is today. “I would gladly weather all of that a million times over if it brought me to Taylor again.”
Moore is sure her thirties and forties will bring her good things. “You give less of a shit about how the world perceives you,” she states. “Now it’s more important to me to be self-satisfying. And I’m better at that. It just comes with time.”
Read the full interview here.