The actress also opened up about how the role helped her find her sense of style again.

Lily Collins is opening up about how, despite finding some similarities between herself and her Emily in Paris character, Emily Cooper, she’s found a way to separate herself from the character.

The actress sat down with InStyle for its recent cover, which published online Tuesday, a week before season four of the hit Netflix series releases. In the conversation, she got candid about Emily’s need to be perfect, how the character helped her find her sense of fashion again and plans beyond Paris.

When filming Emily in Paris season one, Collins recalled talking to her now-husband, Charlie McDowell, about the how she and her character were similar, and she wanted to find a way to differentiate them. She explained that she struggled with Emily’s desire to be perfect, which she was also going through.

“This idea of perfection, needing to just always feel ready to go, always feeling like your perfect self. That’s not how I want to live my life, especially at 35,” she told the publication, teasing that the show’s upcoming fourth installment is “the season of vulnerability” and noting there are “messy” scenarios and “emotional breakdowns” to come.

Elsewhere in the profile, Collins also noted that she was in a relationship before her current marriage where the person criticized how she dressed, telling her that she couldn’t wear certain things. So, she entered what she considers a “dull period,” in which she wore muted colors and stayed away anything too big or too revealing.

“I thought for a while that if you make yourself physically, with volume, appear bigger, then you’re taking up too much space,” she said, explaining that Emily in Paris allowed her to rediscover her fashion sense and, in turn, herself. “Emily, in a lovely way, takes up so much space. Mixing patterns and prints, textures, styles in a way that was foreign to me, I started to realize that I didn’t have to be afraid of color anymore.”

As for what comes next for the MaXXXine actress, Collins said she’s looking forward to continuing to step outside of the box with her upcoming roles, including as Polly Pocket in Mattel’s adaptation that has been in early development since before Greta Gerwig’s record-breaking Barbie.

Collins is set to star as the titular toy and produce the film, which will follow a young girl and a pocket-sized woman who form a friendship. She told the magazine she was excited to “play with that world” in the big screen take on the famous doll.

Lena Dunham was previously attached to direct and write the film, but she recently revealed she was stepping away from the project after working on the script for three years. However, the company still intends to bring that story to life.

“Polly Pocket is in active development, and we look forward to sharing updates on the project soon,” a Mattel spokesperson previously told The Hollywood Reporter. “Lena is a remarkable writer and creator, and we wish her all the best!”

Part one of Emily in Paris season four drops on Netflix Aug. 15, while part two debuts on Sept. 12.