The One Tragedy That Changed Zooey Deschanel Forever

Zooey Deschanel is arguably one of Hollywood's most beloved starlets. Ever since her role in "Almost Famous" — and then alongside Will Ferrell in "Elf" — the world wanted to see more of the actor. And they did when she landed the role of quirky Jess in "New Girl"! But on top of her successful movie and TV career, she also co-created the website HelloGiggles in 2011, which served as an outlet for other young women to express themselves. "I just felt it's important to teach young girls to be strong people, to not think, 'I can't do this because I'm worried about what people will say,'" Deschanel told Marie Claire at the time.

She continued, "There are worse consequences, but online negativity stops people from being creative, part of which is having bad ideas as well as good ideas. When somebody says, 'That idea's stupid,' you stop your flow of ideas. We can't have the next generation be so afraid because they have been attacked."

As it turns out, there's a reason she wanted to create this type of community for young women to be themselves without judgement. Scroll ahead to learn about the tragic experience that changed the actor forever — and why it was her "rock bottom" moment in life.

In 2012, Zooey Deschanel told Marie Claire that kids ridiculed her being "chubby" and recalled the time a classmate spat in her face. "I really don't know why she spit at me. I just talked to her. I guess I wasn't allowed to talk to her. I remember I couldn't believe it," she explained. Deschanel later elaborated on the experience, telling Marie Claire in another interview that she "honestly did nothing" to deserve it and that the moment made her feel "so humiliated."

She also revealed she saw her bully in photos years later, admitting she's forgiven her but will never forget what she did.

In 2014, Deschanel told InStyle the moment was "the ultimate low rock bottom." She explained (per NZ Herald), "Someone spitting in your face while you are on your way to your locker. Having to fight through those years makes you ready for the future. I can snap back, I can make fun of myself before they do — I can do all of it. There's no way I can ever be as sensitive as I used to be, and it's sad to lose any sensitivity because it generally makes people very good at art."

Zooey Deschanel told Marie Claire in 2013 that her experience with bullying helped her become a stronger person. "A lot of people I knew who didn't struggle, who maybe came from a lot of money or were really pretty — those people actually have a harder time as adults in a way," she said. "They don't even understand what it's like to not be pretty ... I'm not saying it's good, I don't think people should be mean to each other, [but] I think it made me stronger."

However, did it almost dissuade her from having children of her own? At the time, Yahoo! noted that perhaps her past may have been the reason the actor said she was happy to just be an aunt to her sister Emily Deschanel's son Henry and that being a mom was never her "focus." As she explained, per Yahoo!, "My sister was always very motherly, babysitting and stuff. I like kids, and I like being around kids — but it was never an ambition, something, like, I need."

It turns out, Deschanel had a change of heart a few years later as she welcomed her first child — a daughter named Elsie — with ex-husband Jacob Pechenik in 2015. The couple also welcomed a son, Charlie, two years after that (per People).