Jennifer Lawrence in "Die My Love."

NEW YORK – Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson know a thing or two about life in the spotlight.

In the late aughts and early 2010s, the A-listers catapulted to fame in multibillion-dollar young-adult franchises "The Hunger Games" and "Twilight." Although they were once swarmed by fans and paparazzi at every turn, the actors have had a more relaxed relationship with the media in recent years.

Back then, “it was a lot rougher,” Pattinson says, seated with Lawrence for a joint interview for their new movie “Die My Love” (in theaters Nov. 7).

“Tabloid culture has gotten so much better,” Lawrence adds. “It was really mean. The paparazzi themselves used to chase you and try to get you in a car accident, or try to get you to freak out on them. Now if I'm with my kids, I'll just cross the sidewalk, give them a few shots, and then they just totally leave me alone.”

But the Oscar winner acknowledges that there are still challenging moments.

“I actually yelled at a man the other day because I was with my kids, I walked across the street, I gave them a few shots, and then I went back to the stroller,” Lawrence recalls. “I was pushing the stroller and then I saw him (again). I was like, this motherf-----. This is a violation of the contract! So I screamed, ‘Lowlife!’ And it was not the same guy (laughs). It was two guys in red shirts; two different people.”

“Did you say sorry?” Pattinson asks.

“No, I just had to stick with it,” Lawrence says. “He might not know why I'm calling him a lowlife, but he'll think about it.”

Jennifer Lawrence recalls getting 'crazy' questions about weight, boyfriends

When Lawrence met Pattinson at a party in the 2010s, “we were both talking about how there are random days where there's exorbitantly more paparazzi,” the “Winter’s Bone” star recalls. “And you're like, ‘What's about to break? What did my mom say? (Laughs.) Like, what's going on?’ ”

While she was juggling “The Hunger Games” and “X-Men,” Lawrence was also starring in David O. Russell dramas “Joy,” “American Hustle” and “Silver Linings Playbook,” for which she won the best actress Oscar. The actress endured all manner of interview questions from journalists as she dutifully campaigned for awards, and grinned through hundreds of red-carpet and junket interviews.

“It’s still pretty insane, but the things people used to say to women are just absolutely nuts,” Lawrence says. “I mean, it used to just only be about weight and when you would have babies or who your boyfriend was. I don't feel like you would ask a woman about her weight in an interview anymore, but I used to get asked about my weight in like every interview. Isn't that crazy?”

Even now, “Emma Stone's got one of the best movies out this year (‘Bugonia’),” Lawrence adds. “It's really important and so timely, about how we're in a post-truth era and what do we do if you can't trust the truth around you? And the only questions she's getting asked are about shaving her head. You have 10 minutes with this person who just made a whole movie. … It's just weird.”

Pattinson finds it “so crazy” to look back at magazine interviews and see what those profile stories entailed. “It would be four or five days, and you’d literally be with the interviewer the whole time,” he says. “And these stories are amazing and so insightful.”

But in the current clickbait culture, actors are concerned about being misquoted or having their words taken out of context on social media.

“I think there would be more trust involved, and a better back and forth, if we trusted (reporters) not to use a stupid pull quote,” Lawrence says. “Then we would say more.”

The 'Die My Love' star worries that she's 'annoying' people again

In the early 2010s, the Kentucky native was beloved for her delightfully unfiltered and relatable public persona, whether she was tripping up the steps of the Dolby Theatre while accepting her Oscar, or wrapping herself in a blanket on late-night TV. But gradually, people began to turn on Lawrence, saying that her quirky antics were all just an act.

The “Mother!” actress partially retreated from the spotlight to start a family and a production company, and she now only appears in roughly one film a year. In a recent interview with The New Yorker, Lawrence said she was “so embarrassing” in all her old media appearances, leading fans to come to her defense on social media last week, sharing old clips and saying that her playful behavior was actually endearing.

"That's mortifying because it's almost like I weaponized me being annoying," Lawrence says with a shrug. Now, "everybody feels like they have to tell me, ‘No, you weren’t annoying!’ The whole thing is just a cycle. I can’t not be annoying.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jennifer Lawrence shares secret hack for dealing with paparazzi

Reporting by Patrick Ryan, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect