Jennifer Love Hewitt talks being Sexualized as a Teen in Hollywood

The actress recalled how males would brazenly joke about her physique, significantly after her film, “I Know What You Did Final Summer time.”

Jennifer Love Hewitt stated it was “heartbreaking” that regardless of her efforts within the movie, the main target was not on her expertise as an actress however on her physique.

Talking on a current episode of Mayim Bialik’s “Breakdown” podcast, Hewitt mirrored on the unsettling expertise of being overly sexualized as an adolescent, recalling the way it was as soon as normalized in Hollywood.

The “Ghost Whisperer” star, now 45, opened up concerning the inappropriate consideration she acquired in her early years.

“There have been grown males speaking to me at 16 about my breasts brazenly on a chat present, and folks had been laughing about it,” she shared. “It was a tradition that was totally accepted, however whenever you sit and also you take a look at the place we are actually versus then, it’s actually mind-blowing.”

Hewitt admitted that being labeled a “intercourse image” earlier than she even understood the idea felt “actually unusual,” including, “I did not know what being attractive meant.”

She recalled how males would strategy her with unsettling remarks after posing for Maxim in 1999 at simply 17.

“Individuals would brazenly stroll up and be like, ‘I took your journal with me on a visit final week,” Hewitt stated, per Page Six. “I did not actually know what that meant. It is form of gross.”

Later within the dialog, Hewitt recalled how feedback about her physique grew to become a operating joke after “I Know What You Did Final Summer time” was launched.

“When the film got here out, everyone stated, ‘Oh, I do know what your breasts did final summer time,’ and that was just like the joke,” she shared. “And, once more, everyone would snort, so I might snort. It was speculated to be humorous, I assume. It did not register with me that it is a grown man speaking to me about my breasts on nationwide tv.”

Regardless of the uncomfortable state of affairs, the “Shopper Checklist” star clarified that she would not maintain grudges in opposition to those that made the remarks.

“It was a tradition that was totally accepted. They had been allowed to imagine that that was applicable, and I answered the questions and laughed proper together with them,” Hewitt admitted.

Hewitt, who starred in “Get together of 5,” additionally recalled feeling self-conscious about her physique.

“I had larger boobs for a smaller individual, and so it was embarrassing,” she stated. “I did not need to be checked out by a 40-year-old in Pizza Hut.”

The actress famous that she “all the time wore huge garments” to keep away from undesirable consideration.

After starring in “I Know What You Did Final Summer time,” Hewitt shared that she was pissed off that the main target shifted nearly fully to her chest quite than her efficiency.

“I had labored so exhausting attempting to be good in a horror film, and I actually wished individuals to stroll away from the film going, ‘That is a very good actress,'” she stated.

“And, as a substitute, each headline, and I am not even joking, for 10 or 12 years after that, earlier than they ever talked about something about expertise or if I had performed an element or modified myself for an element or – it was all the time about my breasts, all the time first.”

The actress recalled feeling disheartened by how her work was overshadowed.

“That felt … it was similar to, ‘Come on, I am working so exhausting. I am rising. I am attempting so exhausting, like crying from my coronary heart week after week for you,'” she stated. “And the one factor that you simply see is a film poster with boobs on it. That was heartbreaking for me.”

In an interview with Fox News Digital, Hewitt mentioned how ageism has impacted her prolonged profession in Hollywood and the way she is embracing the journey of self-love and growing older with grace.

The 45-year-old actress shared: “I really feel like followers decide this age that they love that they suppose represents you, and also you’re by no means speculated to develop past that. For me, it was like me and my 20s. Individuals appear to have a very exhausting time accepting that I do not look that approach anymore.”

She continued: “It is exhausting as a result of I feel as people, we need to evolve … we need to have traces on our faces, and you already know, our boobs be decrease from breast-feeding our kids, or you already know, our butt’s larger.”

“No matter it’s, you simply need to have the liberty to be whoever you’re at that age. And it is hurtful generally when individuals reject you as you’re verbally on Instagram or the web as a result of they’re having a tough time adjusting to it,” Hewitt added.

Hewitt, who shares youngsters Autumn, 11, Atticus, 9, and Aidan, 3, together with her husband, Brian Hallisay, expressed her considerations about how detrimental feedback have an effect on her youngsters.

“I’ve a daughter, I am delicate to it as a result of I do not need my youngsters to learn these issues and really feel that approach … or fear about me being damage by it … it is exhausting to do this generally,” she defined.

Nonetheless, regardless of the general public’s response to her growing older, Hewitt shared that she is at peace with the place she is in life.

“Age is age,” she famous. “I feel girls actually come into this … acceptance of themselves and comfortability of their 40s that’s lovely. I really like being in my 40s. I actually do.”