Mila Kunis on rediscovering faith and embracing identity
Mila Kunis is a globally recognized star who is proud of her roots. She was born in Ukraine and emigrated to the U.S. with her parents. Kunis openly identifies as Jewish. In a conversation with an Israeli journalist, she discussed her challenging experiences.
At first glance, Mila Kunis seems no different from her American peers, as she spent most of her childhood and her entire adult life in the U.S., just like them. However, the early years of the actress's life were marked by a completely different set of experiences.
In an interview with Israeli writer and journalist Noa Tishby, Kunis talked about her background. The actress was born in Ukraine and emigrated across the ocean with her parents at the age of eight. Part of her identity is being Jewish, although for political reasons, she couldn't practice her faith as a child.
She couldn't talk about her origin
"I knew I was Jewish, but I wasn't allowed to talk about it with anyone. We also didn't practice any holiday rituals at home. At that time in Ukraine, my religion was not tolerated," Kunis explained to the journalist.
For much of her life, Mila did not connect with this part of her identity. She started exploring it only after marrying Ashton Kutcher, who converted to Judaism. Her husband became Kunis's guide to the religion. Together, they are raising their two children in Judaism.
"You want to know something about Judaism, call Ashton Kutcher," Noa Tishby joked.
"I was raised with a sense of guilt"
Interestingly, when asked what is the most Jewish element of culture, the actress had a clear answer: a sense of guilt. In response, the journalist chuckled.
"I was raised with a huge sense of guilt. Superstitions and guilt—those two things have been with me since childhood," Kunis explains.
