Jennifer Love Hewitt is a highly talented actress with a career spanning over three decades – who has made her presence felt both on the big and small screens. From her early breakthrough in the ’90s to her more recent ventures, Hewitt has become a beloved figure in the entertainment industry. However, even she was subjected to a lot of sexism and being reduced to a mere object in the past.
Hewitt’s incredible versatility shined through as she brought characters like a supernatural communicator, resourceful 911 operator, and resilient young woman to life. Needless to say, she has remained an integral part of pop culture over the years.
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Jennifer Love Hewitt Felt Like An Object After Director Asked Her For A Very Bizarre Request
In a recent podcast interview, Jennifer Love Hewitt discussed her experience with ingrained sexism in the entertainment industry. Known for her roles in hit movies like Heartbreakers, Hewitt revealed an incident from the early 2000s when a filmmaker asked her to act “sexier.”
“I didn’t feel self-confident. 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. I was 17 years old on the cover of Maxim, and I had no idea why I was on the cover of Maxim. I was honoured. I loved it. But why?
I remember doing Heartbreakers at 23, and the director was like, ‘We just need you to be sexier.’ I had to pull him aside and be like, ‘I don’t know what that means. I’m only 23,’” she said. “I know that I’m supposed to be this thing for people, but I don’t know what that means. He had to, like, help me figure that out.
It’s weird for me when people are like, ‘That’s the girl that we wanted you to be,’” Hewitt added. “That girl was so insecure and so confused and trying her best. But this girl [now] — who may not look [that] way — I like who I am. I feel good. I’m fine.”
At the time, in her early 20s, she found the request confusing and expressed feeling sexualized from a young age. Hewitt recounted her struggles with self-confidence and the pressure to be everything for everyone. She also shared her early experience of being labeled “sexy” and featured on the cover of Maxim at the age of 17, questioning the reasons behind it.
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Jennifer Love Hewitt Was Reminded Of Her Own ‘Gross’ Interviews After Infamous Britney Spears Documentary
Jennifer Love Hewitt, after watching Framing Britney Spears, reflected on her own experiences with media treatment when she was younger. In an interview with Vulture in the past, she expressed empathy for Britney Spears’ struggles. Hewitt also revealed that, at the time, she didn’t really view reporters’ inappropriate questions about her body as an issue.
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”At the time that I was going through it, and interviewers were asking what now would be incredibly inappropriate, gross things, it didn’t feel that way. For some reason, in my brain, I was able to just go, ‘Okay, well, I guess they wouldn’t be asking if it was inappropriate.
As a 42-year-old woman with a daughter, I definitely look back on it and go, ‘Ew,'” she said, adding that the inappropriate comments “really started” after she starred in the 1997 slasher flick “I Know What You Did Last Summer.”
At a press junket for ‘I Know’ or ‘I Still Know What You Did Last Summer,’ I remember purposely wearing a T-shirt that said ‘Silicone Free’ on it because I was so annoyed, and I knew something about boobs was gonna be the first question,” she continued. “I was really tired of that conversation.
Now that I’m older, I think, ‘Gosh, I wish that I had known how inappropriate that was so I could have defended myself somehow or just not answered those questions.’ I laughed it off a lot of the time, and I wish maybe I hadn’t.”
Looking back, she realized how inappropriate those questions were and acknowledged that they became more prominent after starring in the 1997 film I Know What You Did Last Summer. Hewitt wishes she had known how inappropriate it was and could have defended herself or refused to answer those questions.
