TV & Movies
Filming a destination rom-com gifted the actor a bit of real-life escapism from heartbreak at home.
The first thing you notice about Miranda Cosgrove is her giggle.
A lightly bubbling sound that she emits through a wide smile and scrunched-up shoulders.
Its a constant presence over the course of our lunch conversation, regardless of the subject.
Its something Ive done my whole life, Cosgrove says of her trademark nervous chuckle.
Its kind of a way of processing it and getting over it without it getting to you too much.
The project hit Cosgrove at a prescient moment of adulting.
She was fresh off a breakup when shooting began, and filming a happily-ever-after felt like an emotional grenade.
During my breakup, I also was doing the wedding stuff oniCarly.
Its the whole scene of Freddie asking Carly, Would you want to marry me?
Luckily, the project turned out to be just the break she needed.
It couldnt have come at a more perfect moment in my life.
Though she has a thriving love life on screen, the actor is currently single in real life.
She decided to forgo dating in 2024, but finding love is still on her to-do list.
Im still on Raya, she sighs, but I never actually talk to anybody.
And when I do, I kind of just swipe.
It feels almost like a game.
And even when I talk to someone a little bit, it doesnt really turn into meeting up.
The problem, according to her father, might be her throw in.
I always go for like really thin and nerdy, she says.
Her two serious exes werent people who could ever survive if there was an apocalypse, she jokes.
In my dads mind, the perfect guy for me would be somebody kind of like inThe Notebook.
You know how Ryan Goslings character, Noah, basically built an entire house?
My dad would love Ryan Gosling in that movie for me.
And my dad was like, What can he build?
she recalls with a laugh.
I cant cook a single solitary thing).
Her Sunday ritual involves washing her familys three elderly dogs.
She also moonlights as a cat rescuer.
I kept one of the [mom] cats, and thats my cat, she says.
If it all feels like a one-offiCarlyepisode, she gets it.
In some ways, I havent really completely broken out of playing [Carly], she says.
A lot of people think that thats exactly what Im like.
In many ways, her squeaky-clean public image is an offshoot of viewer familiarity with Carlys sweet girl-next-door personality.
Even now, its hard to tell if people are seeing similarities or just conflating the two.
Cosgrove used to be more bothered by the wholesome label.
Now that Im older, I dont mind as much, she says.
Its something she turns over in her mind often.
How much should I really want people to know about me?
Unlike her child-star peers, Cosgroves success hasnt barred her from having a relatively normal life.
In fact, shes widely known (and celebrated) for it.
That probably wouldve made it harder for me to stay sane.
Still, she isnt immune to the darker side of celebrity.
Hed previously shot at a woman whod driven near Cosgroves home who looked like her.
The actor actually ran into the woman at an event for Kitten Rescue LA years later.
Luckily, the two had more than looks in common.
She seemed like she processes things in a similar way that I do, Cosgrove says.
She laughs, the disarming giggle.
Thats another reason why I go back and forth to my parents house so much, she says.
I just dont feel super safe in that house.
For two years after it happened, I wouldnt really stay there.
Then I got into a relationship and because that person was there with me, I was less scared.
But I dont really like being there on my own that much.
She hasnt found it yet.
As jarring as her story is, the experience hasnt kept Cosgrove from enjoyingBaby Reindeerlike the rest of us.
Its my favorite genre of movie, she says, citingNotting Hillas probably my favorite rom-com.
