Rashida Jones

By: Interview by Mike Einziger | Photographed by Mike Piscitelli | April 12, 2011 |

Opening Ceremony black-and-white polka-dot dress
Available at Barneys New York

In case you haven’t been paying attention, Rashida Jones is a bona fide movie star. I’m still trying to wrap my head around it. When I first met her, Rashida was a bright-eyed Harvard grad having a tough time finding a job, unsure whether she wanted to pursue acting, music, politics or law. But, that was 13 years ago — long before being anointed one of the ‘World’s Most Beautiful People,’ by People magazine, campaigning for Barack Obama, graduating from Harvard or accepting starring roles in The Social Network, I love You Man, The Office and Parks and Recreation.

Rashida and I originally met through her brother, music producer QD3 (he’s worked with Tupac Shakur, Ice Cube and LL Cool J, among others). QD3 was aware of my band, Incubus, and had become a fan of my guitar playing, so he regularly invited me to come up and play on his recording sessions. One day, I walked into his studio and saw Rashida sitting there. QD3 introduced her as his little sister. I was immediately mesmerized and intimidated by her. Rashida was intellectually superior to me in every way, frighteningly talented, the daughter of Quincy Jones and stunningly gorgeous. I’d never even seen a girl like her before let alone worked with one. She was way out of my league, but we quickly became friends. I was completely in awe.

The story of Rashida’s life reads like something out of a Hollywood screenplay. Born to music super-producer Quincy Jones (the man has won 27 Grammys!), and Mod-Squad actress Peggy Lipton, she was raised in the opulent community of Bel-Air, surrounded by many of the world’s most famous and powerful people. But unlike so many celebrity children eager to ride the coattails of their famous parents, Rashida shunned the spotlight and hit the books. And it is that inherent drive, that fierce and unwavering determination that has paved the way for her current wave of success.

But when we sat down at her Los Angeles home to conduct this interview, I only had one thing on my mind: 

ME: Do you have any crazy stories about Michael Jackson? 

RJ: I remember Michael would take us to the mall to get toys, which was the most exciting thing ever. But he was always wearing a surgical mask, and I was so embarrassed to be seen with him! It just was not cool to be roaming around the mall with a dude wearing a surgical mask. But he was always so sweet to us, and so fun, just like a big kid, — like a really big kid. I feel so horrible for him. I feel so sad for his soul. He came into this world with so much talent, but he just didn’t know how to protect himself. Michael was exceedingly aware of the fact that he didn’t have a childhood, and he wanted to try to create a world in which he could try to make up for everything he had lost.  

ME: So, taking you guys shopping for toys was something he would do to make him feel in touch with his own youth?

RJ: Yes, exactly. 

ME: So what were some of the dreams that you carried with you from your childhood into your teen years?

  RJ: When I was young, I had all these dreams of being a judge or a lawyer or a politician. I always figured I would somehow end up in the federal system. I always found it exciting to think that you could actually change things in the world. I always had a bit of that precocious, self-righteous dread from the time I was really little. I mean, I would write letters to presidents and magazines, and I would express my frustrations and complain about things.

  Rashida certainly did have that self-righteous, precocious, letter-writing personality. In 1992, she famously wrote a scathing open letter to Tupac Shakur in response to comments he had made about her father during an interview for   The Source magazine.   Tupac had lashed out at Quincy Jones for having an interracial marriage. Rashida, however, wasn’t having it and openly challenged him — a bold move for anyone, let alone someone so short.   

RJ: I was 15 or 16 when I wrote the letter to Tupac after reading this interview where he was talking about interracial, mixed families and how it was destroying the black community. I was really upset by it, so I wrote an open letter to The Source magazine. I handwrote it, which people did back then (laughter), and I cursed a lot in it, because I could, and I basically confronted Tupac for making a really foul comment about my dad. I basically said he wouldn’t be anywhere if my dad hadn’t paved the way for artists like him. And then he saw my sister (Kidada) out one night and went up to talk to her, thinking she was me.  

Photography by Mike Piscitelli
Wardrobe styling by Hayley Atkin for the Magnet Agency
Hair by Davy Newkirk for Tracey Mattingly
Makeup by Jo Strettell for the Magnet Agency