Jennifer Love Hewitt felt 'insecure' after being called 'sexy' as a teen

21 December 2023 , 16:18

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Jennifer has spoken out about the effects of her early career in the spotlight (Image: getty)

Jennifer Love Hewitt has opened up about the crippling effects of being sexualised as a young actress in Hollywood.

Remembering her early career in the spotlight, the now-44-year-old star recalled how she felt insecure at industry demands for her to be “sexy” on a recent episode of the hit podcast Inside of You. Jennifer went on to heartbreakingly confess that, despite her infamous good looks, in reality, she never felt confident.

Jennifer's first break came as a child actress on the Disney Channel, starring in Kids Incorporated when she was just 10 years old. She rose to fame as a teen starring in I Know What You Did Last Summer, and throughout her early career was always subject to media attention about her looks.

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The star felt "watched" as a young actress (Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images)

She starred in The Audrey Hepburn Story when she was 21 (Daily Record)

"I felt watched, I felt like I had to be everything for everybody all the time, I was called sexy before I ever knew what being sexy was," she told host Michael Rosenbaum. "I was 17 years old on the cover of Maxim, and I had no idea why."

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The Can’t Hardly Wait star added it can be difficult to look back at her younger self, who feels so distant from the woman she is today. She shared that even though she does “feel sexy now”, she doesn’t feel that way every day.

She does feel sexy now she's older (FilmMagic)

The star spoke out about how difficult it was to age in Hollywood as a woman (Inside of You Podcast/Tiktok)

Despite her new-found self-confidence, Jennifer explained how it remains difficult to be a woman in the spotlight, with there still remaining a strong cultural fixation on women’s appearances. Describing the misogynistic expectations for her, and every other woman, to remain looking as youthful as possible, the I Know What You Did Last Summer alum said it set a dangerous precedent.

"It's dangerous, I think, to say to women, 'You can't look like you're not 22 to me anymore because I don't know how to take that,'" she explained. "Okay, well, that's your problem because I'm 44, and this is what I look like."

Speaking about the cruel comments made about her appearance after a recent post on Instagram (in which trolls slammed her for looking “unrecognisable”), Jennifer said it was hard to not let online hate get under her skin. The star admitted it would be “a lie” to say she was able to ignore nasty comments about her appearance.

Connie Bowker