Zooey Deschanel and Property Brother Jonathan Scott have been engaged for over a year. Did you think they’d be married by now? Maybe Jonathan is having a hard time settling on a location that’s special to him… Meanwhile, Zooey is a brand ambassador for Vera Bradley, which I guess jives with her twee core aesthetic. She’s selected her Top 12 bags from their Winter/Holiday line, accompanied by a very jewel-toned, ornamental photo shoot of Zooey posing with them. I did a double take looking at the photos, because in some of them Zooey looks like a dead ringer for Rachel Brosnahan! Anyway, Zooey spoke with Us Weekly recently to promote the brand partnership, where she talked about some of her favorite things and one chore that is very much not a favorite thing: unloading the dishwasher. I could muster up some sympathy, were I lucky enough to have a dishwasher myself, sigh.
“What’s cool about Vera Bradley is that they have all these beautiful, very high-end bags that are lovely velvet things that feel very fancy and special,” she tells Us. “And they also have really great practical everyday bags and backpacks and little pouches that you can organize stuff in, like travel things. Toiletry bags, I mean, they have so many things. So it is a really great place to shop for a lot of different holidays.”
Us: when was the last time you did laundry?
Deschanel: I do laundry all the time. I do my own stain removal. I’m obsessed with stain removal.
Us: What’s the one task that you tend to put off?
Deschanel: I hate unloading the dishwasher. Doesn’t everybody? It’s the worst. I don’t mind loading it. Loading is fine. Running it is fine. But if it’s clean and it’s in there, I’ll disappear. Jonathan usually will end up doing that.
Us: What movie do you watch during the holidays — Elf?
Deschanel: Meet Me in St. Louis is a favorite of mine. I don’t watch myself in anything. I feel like that might be narcissistic. I think Jonathan used to watch Elf every year before we met, but if someone has me on a TV, I’m probably running away.
Us: What board games do you like to play?
Deschanel: I love Monopoly and Balderdash. I love playing games, but I’m not competitive. I find it really weird when people are competitive about games.
Us: What’s your favorite song to sing in the shower?
Deschanel: I don’t sing in the shower. I sing outside the shower.
Us: What was the last show that you streamed?
Deschanel: [The HBO MAX docuseries] Chimp Crazy. I did fall asleep. That’s my problem. Chimp Crazy — check it out. It’s really weird.
Us: Who is your favorite Real Housewives star?
Deschanel: My girl Crystal [Kung Minkoff] isn’t on Beverly Hills anymore, but she’s my friend, so she was my favorite. … I mean there’s so many icons. Beverly Hills, I mean, I loved the days when Kyle [Richards] and Lisa Vanderpump were on together. I know that they’re not friends anymore, but I love watching those two together.
As I lamented earlier, I live sans dishwasher, so to me this is a champagne (or Cascade) problem. Cherish your dishwasher machinery, you blessed people! My grumblings aside, I find it rather peculiar that Zooey prefers loading dirty dishes into the washer as opposed to handling clean dishes. But hey, she shouldn’t feel bad about divvying up the responsibilities so that if she loads, someone else puts everything away. And I say that as someone who only has a nine-pound, four-footed roommate to split chores with. (Wow, these Kismet-to-Zooey Deschanel comparisons are really not working out in my favor.) Other bits of this interview I found quirky was Zooey’s abrupt answer to what she sings in the shower. Ok, so you sing outside the shower. But what are you singing?! And then, her “recommendation” of Chimp Crazy. “I did fall asleep. That’s my problem. Chimp Crazy — check it out.” A ringing endorsement! Or is she slyly pitching it as a hack against insomnia? I don’t mind either way, given it’s from the manipulative/exploitative director of Tiger King.
Photos via Instagram and credit: Faye’s Vision/Cover Images, IMAGO/Jeffrey Mayer/Avalon, Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency/Avalon