Zooey Deschanel, who plays perky Jessica Day in comedy series 'New Girl', confesses that as a teenager, she had a fetish for growing her nails long for the purpose of scratching her older sister, Emily.

"She's tall and I'm smaller, so it was kind of unfair. I would have to grow my nails so I could scratch her," says the brunette beauty to Marie Claire magazine.

Mother Mary Jo Deschanel says that her youngest daughter has always been different from children her age: "She was born with something unusual. It was almost like she could hear a different voice in her head. She would just see or think something different from everybody else. I think she had a hard time fitting in with other children, with people in general."

The '500 Days of Summer' actress also feels awkward whenever she thinks about her status now as a celebrity: "I always felt like a bit of an outsider, and now I'm an outsider who's a satellite for outsiders? All of a sudden I'm on the inside, and it feels weird. Because I always saw myself as sort of not mainstream."

Like the 'New Girl' lead star, the elder Deschanel is an actress. Her appearances include 'My Sister's Keeper' and television series 'Bones'.