Women want to be her and guys want to be with her, but Mila Kunis doesn't quite understand why.
"I actually live a very mediocre lifestyle," the 28-year-old actress tells her pal and Oz: The Great and Powerful costar James Franco in the August issue of Interview.
"After doing [That '70s Show] for eight years and [Family Guy] for more than a decade, you are, financially speaking, in a very lucky position where you don't have to work for the sake of working. And I decided to take advantage of that. I don't live lavishly, so it's not like I have 20 assistants and travel privately and shop every day," Kunis explains. "I decided to step back and do things not just for the sake of doing them, but because I believe in them and I want to do them."
After That '70s Show went off the air in 2006, "I solely wanted do films that inspire me, and to work with people who make me better. I wanted to just surround myself with people who I think are better than I am, whether they're actors or directors or producers, so that I could learn from them," Kunis adds. "And I think that's pretty much what I've done. I think that if I hadn't done it that way, then I would've just stunted myself."
Kunis — who's enjoyed box office success with Black Swan, Friends With Benefits and Ted — admits she's considered stepping away from acting in the next few years. "This industry can eat you alive. I think it feeds you a lot of bullsh-t and then spits you right back out, and then you get caught up in it because so much of it is perception and opinion. The fact that there is no right or wrong is what I think is maddening," she says. "I think that you have to restrain yourself from Googling your name and have other hobbies and desires and wants."
The Ukrainian-born actress, who recently began casually dating her That '70s Show costar Ashton Kutcher, 34, already has an exit strategy in the works.
"Listen, in five years I do hope to have a family, and, you know, who knows? I think in this industry people have such a short shelf life, truly, that I don't know what I’m going to be in five years in regards to acting. I mean, I'd love to produce. I can't form a sentence or write an e-mail, so I know I'm definitely not going to go and become a writer, but I would love to explore other facets of this industry, for sure," she says. "I've always been a big proponent of not working for the sake of working, because I don't want to work for the rest of my life — I want to live. So I'd rather work to live than live to work."
