From Thirteen to the Twilight films, Nikki Reed was once a critical and box-office star.
But since then, she's been living a much quieter life. Here's why you rarely hear about Nikki
Reed anymore.
At just fifteen years old, Nikki Reed, who was born and raised in West Los Angeles, broke
onto the scene in a huge way with her daring independent film Thirteen. The Sundance Film
Festival breakout was helmed by director Catherine Hardwicke, who would later direct her in Twilight,
and put her alongside Holly Hunter and Evan Rachel Wood. Reed didn't just appear in the
movie, as she actually wrote the script alongside Hardwicke. Together, they crafted the loosely
autobiographical film, which contained real details from Reed's troubled teenage years.
As Hardwicke told the BBC,
"I've known Nikki since she was five-years-old. When she turned 13, there was this tumultuous
change in her. [...] I thought I had to get her interested in something, so I found her
an acting coach. I told her that good actors write their own material, and that we should
write our own script together. We decided to write about the real stuff that was happening
to her and her friends, not the fake, sugar-coated version."
It was the role of a lifetime for Reed, but there's no denying that it was a difficult
project that required a tremendous personal investment.
Unfortunately for Reed, despite the fact that she returned to high school after Thirteen,
the film followed her. In fact, she later revealed that mothers would show up at school
unprompted to scold her about the movie. As a result, she turned to homeschooling, but
later in her career, she said that her education was a huge priority. While she valued her
career, Reed couldn't let it come first all the time. As she told Yahoo! in 2016,
"I was in the public eye at such a young age, but I made a conscious decision for many years,
actually, to keep myself very removed from being in the public [...] So for example,
after Thirteen, I actually went back to regular high school, and then I ended up graduating
two years early and I got my GED."
It couldn't have been easy for Reed to lose so much privacy at such a young age. But clearly,
she had a handle on the situation when all was said and done.
Throughout the entire Twilight franchise, Reed played the beautiful yet icy Rosalie
Hale, adopted sister to Robert Pattinson's Edward Cullen, and part of a family of ageless
vampires residing in the gray, rainy town of Forks, Washington. However, when it came
to playing the character, there were some unexpected challenges involved.
Reed revealed that the role of Rosalie actually made her feel worse about herself. When asked
by Yahoo! about maintaining healthy self esteem in Hollywood, Reed explained,
"It's all about finding other ways to feel beautiful, otherwise you're just chasing something
forever [...] I experienced this a lot when I played Rosalie in Twilight. If you're not
familiar, this role was supposed to be characterized as the 'most beautiful woman in the world.'
That's how the part was written. And when you're cast to play that character with that
description, there's an inevitable amount of external and internal criticism."
Reed continued,
"Suddenly, you're wondering if you're able to play that, and you're listening to the
rest of the world say, 'That's not who I would describe as the most beautiful woman!' I had
to find myself — and I was only 19 when I first starred in those movies — and I
remember thinking to myself, I need to write my own story about what that meant to be the
most beautiful woman in the world."
Despite the Twilight franchise's success, it's obvious that the role of Rosalie was
a burden in its own way.
Despite the overwhelming financial success of the Twilight films, Reed's career hit a
wall once the movies wrapped up in 2012 with the two-part adaptation of Breaking Dawn.
One year later, Reed starred in the drama Empire State with Liam Hemsworth, which ended
up going directly to a DVD release, followed by Pawn and Enter the Dangerous Mind, both
of which were barely noticed by critics or audiences.
As it turned out, Reed's string of flops had only just begun. The 2014 sports comedy Balls
Out performed well with critics, but didn't make a dent in the box office. Then came 2014's
In Your Eyes and Murder of a Cat, 2015's About Scout and 2016's Jack Goes Home, none of which
set the world on fire. Finally, in 2016, Reed starred in the tiny independent flick A Sunday
Horse. Though it might seem crazy to be essentially retired from the film industry after a successful
four-film franchise, Reed's post-Twilight work seems to have taken her off the table
as a bankable Hollywood star.
When it comes to the small screen, Reed really hasn't done much work at all. Before her days
bringing Stephenie Meyer's literary legacy to the silver screen, she appeared in the
third season of The O.C. in 2006.
After a fifteen-episode streak on Fox's Sleepy Hollow as American flag-maker Betsy Ross from
2015 to 2016, Reed took a bit of a break from television. She later appeared in a single
episode of Hulu's Dollface in 2019. She then appeared in the Netflix series V-Wars, a 2019
sci-fi show executive produced and starring her husband, Ian Somerhalder, but her TV troubles
continued as that show was cancelled just a few months after its debut.
Though she hasn't been acting in high-profile projects for a while, Reed has plenty of other
things to occupy her time, one of which is a line of sustainable jewelry. In 2017 Reed
founded BaYou with Love. Reed had a yearning for jewelry made with sustainable materials,
conflict-free diamonds, and mostly female designers, so she decided to do it herself.
As she told People,
"When you're dealing with all of these new keywords — like ethical, sustainable, recycled,
chemical-free, organic [...] it's really nice to have people touch things and see them in
person because I think there's a misconception that sustainable goods are somehow considered,
at times, less than."
Reed continued,
"[I]t's wonderful to see people pick up a diamond ring that's made from recycled gold
and go, 'Oh wow, this doesn't feel any less luxurious than any other diamond ring that
I would pick up.'"
BaYou with Love is still going strong four years later, with Reed's well-intentioned
entrepreneurial efforts keeping her busy off the big screen.
Aside from her acting career, Reed has nurtured another passion: animal welfare and activism.
She volunteers at shelters frequently, because she feels most centered around animals. She
told Yahoo! in 2016,
"It's a language that doesn't need words. I find there's such an ability to connect
that's based on feeling. And I think that we as a culture are now so fast-paced [...] and
I think there's something really peaceful about the connection that we have with animals
that doesn't require words."
"There's something so special about baby cows. They're goofy, like."
In 2015, Reed also teamed up with cruelty-free handbag line Freedom of Animals to help promote
the brand by making a capsule collection for them. Reed told Forbes at the collection's
launch,
"I am an animal rights activist and most of what I have focused on for the past 10 years
falls into that [...] it's about knowing there are options out there to help us reduce our
need for products made from animals, and increase our demand for US-made products."
Alongside her acting work, Reed contributed a song to the soundtrack for Twilight: Breaking
Dawn titled "All I've Ever Needed" in 2012. That same year Reed and her husband at the
time, American Idol contestant Paul McDonald, would duet on "Now That I've Found You," releasing
a steamy musical video, but the couple would soon part ways.
In addition to her own brief singing career, Reed has appeared in multiple music videos,
such as Santana's "Just Feel Better" alongside Steven Tyler, and Hanson's "Get the Girl Back."
She also briefly graced the screen in Lady Gaga's powerful survivor anthem "Til It Happens
to You" in 2015, and the Black Eyed Peas' rerelease of "Where's the Love?" in 2016.
In 2014, before her divorce was finalized, Reed struck up a relationship with The Vampire
Diaries stalwart Ian Somerhalder, and the two were engaged and married by April of 2015.
"He is the most genuine man on the planet."
Just two years later, Reed was pregnant with their first child. Overjoyed at her pregnancy,
Reed took to Instagram writing,
"I know you, but only because I feel you. How is it possible to love someone so much
already? All I know for sure is it's the strongest feeling I've ever felt. We've been sharing
this body for quite some time, and we've already experienced so much together. We can't wait
to meet you [...] Love your parents."
Ultimately, Reed and Somerhalder welcomed their daughter in July 2017.
Despite starting a family, Reed and Somerhalder have been keeping busy. In 2016, the duo announced
that they had inked a deal between their production company Rare Bird Productions and WBTV, the
studio that made The Vampire Diaries such a huge hit for The CW. Thus far, the deal
has only manifested itself in the aforementioned V-Wars.
These days, Reed is also indulging her aspirations as an amateur photographer. Staying true to
her sustainable mission, Nikki sells her prints on eco-friendly, tree-free, fiber renewable
paper. Her Instagram account is overflowing with beautiful imagery, punctuated by the
occasional glimpse of life alongside her husband.
Fans of both actors will continue to be on the lookout for them and whatever they select
for their next adventures on the big, small, and streaming screens. Here's hoping we see
more of Reed in front of the camera again soon.
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