Nikki Reeds greatest joy: watching my daughter run through the dirt barefoot
Nikki Reed has a new interview with People Magazine talking about her life on a farm somewhere in rural California, it’s unclear exactly where. Nikki talks mostly about being in nature and her daughter with Ian Somerhalder, Bodhi, four, experiencing that lifestyle. Nikki and Ian have been married since April, 2015 and moved to the country sometime in late 2019 I’m assuming, given that they listed their house in Venice Beach in October, 2019. I’m getting weird vibes from this People story, mainly because Nikki talks about her decision to move as a personal one and doesn’t mention Ian much. That could just be what People excerpted and it might not mean much. Here’s some of that interview:
“[Having a child] was a turning point for me,” she says. “I made a conscious choice to give my child the most normal life possible.”
That meant moving to a farm “very far outside the city” where they raise goats, cows, dogs and horses, and grow lavender and rosemary alongside cucumbers and peppers.
“It felt like a relief, moving out of the city,” Reed says. “I promise that if anybody wants a feeling of ease, of peace, of calm, the answer is nature.”
At their farm, the now-4-year-old Bodhi is “learning to grow things, getting your hands dirty in the soil,” Reed says.
“My greatest joy is watching my daughter run through the dirt with her shoes off,” she says.
And it makes a huge impact on Reed’s mental health, who now spends her days cuddling her cows, riding horses and growing tomatoes in the yard.
“Nature is the best form of therapy,” she says. “And it’s instant — you don’t have to spend six months in nature before you feel it. Go on a hike and release endorphins. Look at a tree instead of the blue light on your phone. All of our souls need a dose of that kind of medicine.”
Now busy with life on the farm, Reed has taken a step back from her acting career, but has started a nature-inspired jewelry company, BaYou with Love, and is designing a line of shoes for vegan sneaker company Løci.
“It was a very scary pivot for me to leave the only career I had ever known, that I had worked in since I was 13, to try something new,” she says. “But I learned a lot about what’s important to me. A lot of things that came with a Hollywood lifestyle, there isn’t synergy with the priorities I now have in my life and with the people I want to surround myself with.”
You see what I’m saying about her not mentioning Ian at all? At the end she’s quoted as saying “Peace, calm, plants, animals — this is what keeps us healthy” but it’s like the royal “us” and doesn’t necessarily mean her family. (Also I hope she includes doctors and vaccinations in there, but I doubt it.) I checked Nikki and Ian’s Instagrams and Nikki posted a magazine cover photo she took of Ian in March and she wished him happy birthday in December. Ian’s last post for her was in October of last year. I’m getting weird vibes like I said.
Whatever is going on with Nikki and Ian, their life on the farm looks idyllic. I agree that it’s healing to get out in nature and now that I love hiking I wonder why it took so long for me to give it a chance. I don’t agree that it’s the best form of therapy though, it’s just *a* form of therapy. The best forms of therapy are cognitive behavioral or rational emotive, but those are expensive.
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