Jenny Slate Says She’s ‘a Big Romantic’ in Every Aspect of Life, from ‘What I Choose for Dinner’ to the ‘Pajamas I Wear’ (Exclusive)
- - Jenny Slate Says She’s ‘a Big Romantic’ in Every Aspect of Life, from ‘What I Choose for Dinner’ to the ‘Pajamas I Wear’ (Exclusive)
Desiree Anello, Jack SmartJanuary 27, 2026 at 2:49 AM
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Jenny Slate at The Variety Studio during the 2026 Sundance Film Festival
Anna Webber/Variety via Getty
Jenny Slate stepped out at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival alongside Chris Pine to promote their latest romantic drama, Carousel
At the premiere of the film, the actress exclusively tells PEOPLE that she is a “big romantic” in every aspect of her life
“This isn't my original idea, but there's eroticism in everything,” she explains, adding that she wants to “find it everywhere”
Jenny Slate tries to embrace romance in every area of her life.
While stepping out at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival to promote her and Chris Pine’s latest film, Carousel, the 43-year-old actress exclusively tells PEOPLE that she is a “big romantic” both onscreen and in her everyday life.
“I'm a romantic in what I choose for dinner, what pajamas I wear, not just like, you know, sexy,” Slate explains. “I'm talking, like, there's romance in everything.”
“This isn't my original idea, but there's eroticism in everything, you know,” she added. “The writer, Adrienne Maree Brown, you know, that whole theory. Anyway, I am one of these people that wants to find it everywhere, and I hope I do.”
Jenny Slate and Chris Pine attend the "Carousel" premiere during the 2026 Sundance Film Festival
Neilson Barnard/Getty
As for how this reveals itself in the Rachel Lambert-directed film? In the romantic drama, Slate portrays the high school girlfriend, Rebecca, of Pine’s character, Noah, who comes back to town and complicates his life. And if she learned anything from the filming process, it was that it's “not that hard for me to fall into what feels like a moment of intensity.”
“I'm rather comfortable with that,” she tells PEOPLE. “It's more weird for me to have to play something that feels too perfect or unreal in one way or another, so I was pretty excited by some things that I find very romantic in that Chris and I play people who are each other's one that got away.”
Meanwhile, Pine, 45, admits to PEOPLE that he is “romantic in a lot of ways" himself.
“The first thing that comes to mind is that I’m a lover of old Hollywood, old Hollywood glamour,” he says. “To specifically broaden that to this [Carousel] I think, so much of it is involved in your team partner. And the woman that I was [meant to] fall in love with was Jenny Slate. And it’s not difficult to do that. It’s like, ‘Alright, now we’re in love.’ She’s great. She’s smart, she’s funny, she’s well-read.”
Beyond the film, Slate has spent the past couple of years raising her and husband Ben Shattuck’s 4-year-old daughter, Ida Lupine, and releasing her latest collection of essays, Lifeform.
“It feels like I've set sail and I finally understand how to work all the riggings of my own ship,” the Gifted star shares.
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Jenny Slate and Ben Shattuck attend the Gotham TV Awards in June 2025
Mike Coppola/Getty
As for how she met her husband of four years? Slate and Shattuck were first linked in January 2019 when they attended the Sundance Film Festival together, and eight months later, the art gallery director asked for her hand in marriage during a vacation in France.
"He took me to France and made a picnic and made me feel happy and free and then he asked me to marry him and I screamed YES," Slate shared in an Instagram post that September. "You are the kindest and brightest and I am so grateful and here we go and keep going."
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Source: “AOL Entertainment”
