Life Advice from the Ladies of Girls

Hannah, Marnie, Jessa, and Shoshanna - the characters on HBO's Girls - are not the best people to look to for advice, especially on things like success in the workplace (reminder: rape jokes are always taboo in a job interview), dating, or handling stress. However, Cosmo spoke with the actors who play those characters at the premiere for season three of Girls and they dispensed sound advice on important matters like motherhood and butt acne. Here's some handy life advice straight from Lena Dunham, Allison Williams, Jemima Kirke, and Zosia Mamet:

By Darla Murray

1. Lena wants you to remember that we share the sky, so don't vandalize it:
"I hate skywriting and it's not just about Shia LaBeouf. It's about the concept of skywriting entirely. Tell them yourself; why do you have to put it in the sky? We share that thing!"

2. Lena says if you piss someone off, say by turning them into a character on your hit TV show, don't be afraid to hide:
"I try to be generous and let them know [if I'm going to write about them], but some of them I'm not speaking to anymore. So I change my number."

3. Want as many "likes" as @lenadunham gets on an Instagram post? Do this:
"Post whatever you think is funny and exciting and try not to include any animal abuse."

4. Allison, like Sandra Bullock, thinks you should never Google yourself:
"Just don't do it. You can't control what you see out there. You can't control what image goes first, unless you're search engine optimizationing and that seems totally above dork. I think it would drive me crazy, so I just don't do it. I truly have not. It takes a lot of self control, like when you're in bed alone and it's dark and your laptop's there and you want to be like, 'ah, I just want to see what it's like.' No!"

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5. PSA from Allison: Tweets Are Forever
"People keep learning the lesson over and over again that Twitter is permanent. It goes out into the world and even if you delete it quickly, it's still been there."

6. If you love your job, Allison says you should be willing to gain 100 pounds or cut your hair for it, because she would:
"Ya! You know that those are the best roles and usually only come with a pat on the back and a "maybe on the back end, we'll see what happens," usually for pretty indie movies, where it's like a bunch of friends working on a project. This is my favorite thing to do in the world. I know that sounds crazy if you're not an actor, but it's my favorite thing in the world so I'd even do it for free."

7. Jemima shares these two easy steps for looking red carpet ready:
"I'll shower because the hairstylist told me to and then go get my nails done at the nail salon. Other than that, what else is there to do?" (Note, there is nothing else to do when your mom owns a fabulous collection of vintage gowns that are ripe for your picking. "I picked this dress because my mother collects vintage and she has a company that's called Geminola so a couple days ago I went to her house.")

8. Jemima says to spend at least five hours in your art studio (if you're a mother of two who's also juggling a career as an artist and an actress):
"I have three jobs: The show, being a mom, and a painter. It's a lot. I try to go into the studio from this time to this time, depending on what allows it. I try and do at least five hours in there. At least. Sometimes that's not possible and I'll only have an hour because I have to do something for the show."

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9. When it comes to your job Jemima says there are times to goof around and times to put your head down and get your job done:
On her episode 1 cunnilingus act on actor Danielle Brooks: "We were both trying our hardest to get it done. We weren't trying to giggle through that one we were just like, "let's do this." It's awkward. But of course it's awkward. Oh ya, we're both actors, we're very professional, yes, but my head is still between her legs for three hours."

10. When preparing for a sex scene, Zosia says yes to exfoliation and no to butt acne popping:
"I don't know [how to prepare]. You scrub real hard? No, I don't know. But I did have a makeup artist tell me once that someone asked her to pop their butt acne for a scene and she said that is not in my job description!"

11. Zosia says if your tits are going to end up on your parents' T.V., give them a heads up courtesy call:
"The weirdest part about it is calling your parents to say, just so you know, in episode 1, you're going to see my tits."

12. Bonus Tip: The young Lena Dunham's advice to a younger Lena Dunham:
"I would tell my younger self to relax and just stop trying so hard. It's going to be okay and you can't force other people to like you, and you just have to kind of ride the wave. I think I could have saved myself a lot of sleepless nights with that advice."

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