Jake Gyllenhaal recently got candid with The Times, discussing everything from his bathing habits to his love for Great British Bake Off.
When queried about his controversial stance on bathing, based on his having called the hygienic practice “less necessary, at times,” he said: “I think someone asked me about my bathing routine — which I found to be a bit invasive. And so my response was that I do it all, sometimes. And what I got back was that I don’t bathe. That’s OK — I’ve never been accused of being smelly. It’s fine. Of course I bathe. In the Luna Rossa scent, daily.”
As for the Great British Bake Off: “[It’s always alluring to me to see what kind of ridiculous jokes are going to come out of the comedic hosts,” the actor revered, though while he does bake — “yes, I do. I bake a ton at home,” — he clarified does not make baked Alaska.
“Oh, baked Alaska, that’s your fantasy. But if you want I can make it for you, if we ever meet in person,” he quipped, adding that he wouldn’t go to Britain to appear on a celebrity episode — though he would want something else GBBO-related. “I would ask Prue Leith to donate one of her pairs of glasses to a charity I work with.…If she changed prescription or something. Because her glasses are the best and every week I can’t wait to see which ones she’s going to wear.”
“She is a person whose behaviour I aspire to have,” he continued. “She is always very generous when something is really not good.” (Very true!)
Gyllenhaal has two other important women in his life, aside from Prue: His two nieces, Maggie Gyllenhaal’s daughters (and Maggie, we assume). Gyllenhaal asserted that they are “truly, and I’m not just saying this because it’s an interview, two of the most incredible people. They come from a long line of incredible women and they’re even more incredible than the ones before them.”
During lockdown, he decided to take on a more active role as an uncle, and started asking the girls “to stay with me, you know, when my sister and my brother-in-law need a break, and actually having the time to say let’s spend five days together. Getting to know them and watching them grow up and actually sitting and listening to their experiences and the things that they’re going through.”
“They are the farthest from being a handful that you could imagine. And they’re really not on their phones,” he lauded of the pair. “Their father taught them a lot about the outdoors and the country, it’s very important to him. So they find trees more interesting than phones, which is a rarity.”
Finally, Gyllenhaal cited Greta Thunberg as “an inspiring figure,” and said he believes women “are superior to men.”