Hailee Steinfeld – who considers Taylor Swift, Shawn Mendes and Lena Dunham reliable friends – believes it’s important for people to “band together” in the industry.

She told Fashion magazine: “Banding together – whether it’s a group of women or a group of men or both – is awesome.”

The star remarked about Shawn: “I remember meeting him three years ago when I was just dipping my toes into the whole music thing and he inspired me to stay on. He’s so kind and even then, I knew he was going to be a big star.”

Hailee is now leveraging her status to promote feminism, as she says it’s been the “elephant in the room” for a while and it needs to be addressed.

“For some time, feminism was the elephant in the room. Being a young female who has the honour of reaching thousands of people with one message is incredible. I’ve got a lot to learn.

It is important to have the mindset of, ‘I can do anything I want. I can be anyone I want. I can take on any challenge without anyone holding me back.’

But knowing you’re allowed to mess up and break down and make mistakes. Words like unbreakable, untouchable, perfect – that’s so much for one person to handle,” she explained.

Meanwhile, the 19-year-old singer-actress recently admitted it was difficult making friends while in school, adding: “I was eager to meet people and I never considered myself an outsider. I never wanted to be an outsider. But I had a hard time finding someone who wanted to hang out with me. It was a very weird time for me.”

She went on to praise her “squad” and the importance of being a part of something that feels “real.”

“I can absolutely assure you that each and every one of us genuinely support and love each other. I don’t know that I could be a part of anything that wasn’t real. Especially a friend group. I’m not very good at trying to be something I’m not, or hanging with people for any reason other than getting along with them.”