Diane Nguyen

Grew Up… in Boston in a Vietnamese American family. Diane had a lonely childhood, getting picked on by her parents and brothers, who she describes as “narrow-minded, mean-spirited dirtbags,” and bullied by her classmates. Her family’s critical attitude towards her continued into adulthood, with them calling her stuck up and belittling her for leaving the family—her brothers derisively nicknamed her “Princess Di.”

Living… with her boyfriend in his mansion in Los Angeles, where she moved in her mid-twenties to pursue her dream of becoming a writer.

Profession… freelance writer. Her dream is to write something that changes hearts and minds or sparks truth to power, but the jobs she’s been doing have been less serious than she would like. Right now, she’s working on ghostwriting the memoir meant to get up washed up former celebrity and current cantankerous alcoholic Bojack Horseman back into the public’s good graces.. She’s also published multiple books, including a biography of Secretariat—coincidentally, Bojack’s hero.

Interests… reading, modern art, podcasts, Diane Arbus, feminist theory. She loves a quiet night in, and in that sense, she’s her boyfriend’s complete opposite. In college, she majored in Literature and Equine Studies.

Relationship Status… dating Hollywood golden boy Mr Peanutbutter. He’s an outgoing, people-pleasing goof, and she’s serious and has a bleaker outlook on the world than he does, but they’re crazy about each other and offset one another’s more negative qualities. She doesn’t share his extroversion or appreciation for big gestures, and he doesn’t understand a lot of her frustration with the world’s various injustices, but they’re both trying hard, and communication and compromise can make any relationship work. Right?

Challenge… completing the BoJack book. Dealing with the difficult horse is no easy task. If anyone might be up to the challenge of getting BoJack to open up, though, it’s Diane, who shares some of his cynicism and social anxieties, but she has much more tact. More broadly, Diane is dissatisfied with how her life doesn’t line up with her ideals, and she is frustrated that she’s not able to do more about the issues she cares about. 

Personality... smart, passionate, idealistic, and opinionated—but also cynical, stubborn, and an introvert, which is partly why she and BoJack are so drawn to one another. She can be deeply self-critical, likely a holdover from her difficult family environment. She’s also still affected by the social anxiety that her high school bullying probably contributed t—when she first meets Bojack, she rambles for longer than she intends to, saying: “Parties make me anxious in a real broad sense, like, look at that guy, he’s having fun. Why haven’t I figured it out?” She’s prone to overthinking, and caring too much, at least in the eyes of other people (especially men). She has a very strong moral compass, but this can sometimes mean that she holds herself and others to an impossible standard, and she cares very much about social justice.