Mila Kunis is celebrating Hanukkah with a frank discussion of her Jewish heritage.
In a video interview with actor and activist Noa Tishby this week, Kunis recalled being told to keep quiet about her background during her early childhood in Ukraine. As an adult, however, she’s been able to experience new aspects of Judaism through her daughter Wyatt, 10, and son Dimitri, 8.
“I never lit Hanukkah candles until I had kids,” the “Black Swan” actor, who immigrated to the U.S. with her family when she was 8, explained. “I grew up doing nothing. I always knew I was Jewish, but I was told to never talk about it. I think because I was in a country that didn’t allow for religion.”
Watch Mila Kunis’ chat with Noa Tishby below.
Elsewhere in the chat, Kunis credited her husband of nine years, actor Ashton Kutcher, with encouraging her to take pride in her faith.
“I fell in love with my religion because he explained it to me,” Kunis said. “The thing about being Jewish is it’s like a ‘choose your own adventure,’ where you can pick and choose things about it that resonate with you, and there’s no right or wrong way to be Jewish.”
Kutcher, who was raised Catholic, is not publicly known to have formally converted to Judaism. However, he has for years been studying Kabbalah, a form of Jewish mysticism that also counts his ex-wife, Demi Moore, and pop superstar Madonna among its famous followers.
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“Every time we come up against a challenge, we turn to the tools we have learned and a solution follows,” Kutcher told Harper’s Bazaar when asked about his Kabbalah studies in 2008. “Imagine waking up every day knowing with certainty that whatever obstacle you come up against, you will be able to navigate through it to the best possible outcome. That’s what our spiritual foundation provides.”
Though Kunis’ understanding of Judaism as a religion is relatively new, she believes she definitely inherited some notable aspects of Jewish culture.
“I was raised with a lot of guilt, all the time. Superstition and guilt,” she quipped. “I think I have a fear of not having enough food… the worst thing my kids can say to me is, ‘I’m hungry.’ Food fixes everything. You’re tired? Eat some food. You’re cranky? Eat some food.”