My first impression of Michelle was not pleasant. She was playing Jennifer Lindley on the WB show Dawson's Creek, the perfect blond bombshell from New York who tried to "steal" away Dawson from Joey. Yes, that was Michelle to me.

Then, because I was a big fan of Dawson's Creek I started to read interviews and articles about/with the cast and I realized that she seemed to be really cool and down the earth. She was the youngest of the fab-four; she admitted she was insecure and afraid she wasn't talented/pretty enough to fit in (and I think many teenager girls share her fears). She was strong (she had survived being bullied, living on her own and making it trough hard times) and she seemed totally untouched by the defects of the superficial Hollywood.

When I saw the Dawson’s Creek one hour special where Michelle heads directly for the food department I knew she was my kinda girl. I was actually a bit sad when I heard her describe how young teenager girls approach her on the street and calls her names (she seemed sad about it); and I got a bit upset when they showed how young girls seemed to go crazy when they was going to describe Jen (even though it wasn’t Michelle they called a ho, it just felt sad).

When she after the end of season two she decided to go and do an off-Broadway show instead of big Hollywood movies like her costars she won my respect. I have always admired those very few people who seem true to themselves and their beliefs after being named one of Hollywood’s sweethearts. That what was she wanted to do and she did it without caring about the Hollywood hype that would have made it a natural choice for her to go big budget.

I also admired the way the people around her described her as very mature and that she said that she had always felt older than her age. And  of course Michelle scored some extra points with me after saying that the first item she bought after her first paycheck was a Shakespeare set…

I do not know Michelle personally, I've just read about her, seen interviews, heard people who met her describe her and I've seen some of her movies. I'm not saying she's the perfect human being but it's her flaws and insecurities that makes her more human to me and I admire her greatly.

To me, Michelle seems to be clever and she speaks her mind without caring about stepping on someone’s toes. . If something bothers her she don’t just take the shit but fight back. After the men’s magazine Maxim had disrespected her during a photo-shot recently she refused to re-shoot the pictures because she felt like "a piece of meat". She even told Paper magazine that she felt "objectified" and that " It wasn't about telling a story with pictures, it was about getting [her] into the tightest, shortest, most provocative thing they could find". Even though Maxim is a powerful men’s magazine where lot’s of actresses show up half naked without complaining she told them off. Her message to teenager girls was very sweet too, "No girl is ever gonna have to go to the newsstand and be like, 'Is that what I'm supposed to look like?' Because it's not."