Don’t let the light blonde hair and doll-like features fool you: Dove Cameron can be pretty...dark. In real life, the Disney star—who can be seen as Mal (the daughter of Maleficent) in Descendants 2—is basically like a cute, creepy, bubbly doll. She enjoys the color of fresh blood (it’s her go-to lip color), visits cemeteries (“We walk around demonizing death, but it isn’t scary, it’s actually beautiful”), and at the same time, can’t stop talking about her boyfriend and a recent trip to Paris. Needless to say, Dove is fascinating; I could have spent the whole day asking her questions, but alas, we only had an hour.
Instead, I asked the actress-slash-singer (who riffed away with every tune that played from her iPhone) Qs associated with the numbers one through 10. Her answers, ahead, are pretty darn telling.
The 1 person she was starstruck to meet:
“I cried when I met Mariah Carey. Like, cried. That was embarrassing. I was in a big crowd of people, so it wasn’t even in a professional setting. I was like, ‘Mariah!’ She wasn’t going to take photos, but then she saw that I was a wreck, so she was like, ‘OK, for this one wreck.’”
What she does on the 2 best days of the week (aka the weekend):
“I’m, like, obsessed with my boyfriend [Thomas Doherty]. On the weekend, we love going to the movies. Everyone likes to stay home and watch Netflix, but we love getting all done up and going to a nice restaurant. We’re big proponents of old-fashioned romance.”
Her ideal 3-course meal:
“Garlic butter prawns and garlic bread would be the starter. For main course, I would do a massive 16 oz steak, medium-rare. Garlic mashed potatoes. Then, maybe a side of lobster mac n cheese, because I’m from Seattle and that’s the seafood capital. For dessert…I had this really incredible ice cream in Paris, where it was lavender creme brûlée flavored with actual hardened sugar on top. Mind-blowing. But I also love a cobbler, so…both.”
Her favorite 4-legged animal:
“A white tiger. I feel like that’s my emotional animal. That’s what I relate to, and I see them everywhere. I love the color white. People always say that white is the absence of color, but white light is also a combination of all the colors. I’m really attracted to light and sun and white light. Like a purity, sort of.”
Where she sees herself in 5 years:
“I’m hoping to have some sort of line because growing up, I really wanted to go to RISD and design clothing. I got my first little Brother sewing machine when I was 8. My dad would ruin his t-shirts with paint and give [them to] me, and I would make these crazy—truly extravagant for a child—outfits. So I would love to come out with a line because I’m still always sketching.”
What she was like at 6 years old:
“My mom recently did that thing where you send in old tapes and they come back as DVDs from Costco. I am the exact same—manic, wide-eyed, expressive, loud, cuddly and very blonde. And singing and performing. I used to go to school and convince the kids that I was a vampire. I was like, ‘Vampires don’t exist!’ and I would keep packets of ketchup in my purse. They’d be like, ‘That’s what a vampire would say!’ And I’m like, ‘Is it?’ I was really dramatic.”
Her lucky charm (since 7 is the luckiest number):
“I have this sweet little crown ring that my boyfriend gave me. He’s like, ‘You’re my princess!’ I’ve always been the kind of girl, like, ‘I’m not a princess, I’m like a big, bad whatever.’ But when you’re super in love and they’re like, ‘You’re my little princess,’ you’re like, ‘Okay!’ [laughs] And he’s Scottish, so he gets away with anything.”
When it comes to 8-legged creatures (aka spiders), save or kill?:
“Save. 100 percent. I can’t take a life, no matter what, because we’re all life, right? If I see someone kill a bug, it really disturbs me. I used to have this friend who was like, ‘Peace, love and joy,’ but then there was a spider in her room and she was screaming, ‘Kill it! Kill it!’ With this really angry, sort of like murderous panicking. I was like, ‘Yo, I just changed how I see you.’”
9am or 9pm?:
“9pm. I wouldn’t know that 9am existed if I didn’t have to. Unless I stayed up until that hour. I used to stay up literally all night and sleep during the day, because I used to have crazy night terrors. I never wake up early. It’s not in my nature.”
The show she could binge 10 episodes of:
“Pushing Daisies. It was canceled after two seasons, but it’s still one of the best shows ever created. It’s so me, inside-out: a little dark, because it’s about death, but it’s really funny. The pitter-patter of the writing is genius; it’s got its own sound to it. And it’s so romantic and stylized. It’s like Tim Burton in a TV comedy with Kristen Chenoweth. And [there are] some musical elements, and dead people. Like, come on. What more could you ever want?”