I went back to work because someone had to pay for the groceries.

The line frames work not as glamour or self-fulfillment but as necessity: the unromantic obligation of keeping a household running. In Bette Davis’s mouth, it also reads as a dry, self-mocking corrective to the myth of the pampered movie star, emphasizing practicality and financial responsibility. The humor comes from the blunt specificity of “groceries,” which collapses celebrity into everyday domestic economics. More broadly, it suggests a work ethic grounded in independence—returning to work because relying on others is not an option—and it hints at the precariousness that can exist even in highly visible careers.