Jennifer Love Hewitt appeared on the “Inside of You” podcast and revealed she once had to pull a filmmaker aside on set because he was telling her she had to be sexier. As an actor in her early twenties, Hewitt had no idea what such a request even meant. She said that she never felt like she was “in her body” as a young actor as she was constantly sexualized from a young age.
“I didn’t feel self-confident. I felt watched. I felt like I had to be everything for everybody all the time,” Hewitt said. “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 honored. 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 continued. “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.”
“Heartbreakers” was directed by David Mirkin and starred Hewitt opposite Sigourney Weaver. The two actors led the 2001 comedy as a mother-daughter con artist team.
Because Hewitt felt such a lack of self-confidence in her early twenties, she finds it unusual when fans often tell her they want to see her physical appearance restored to that age.
“It’s weird for me when people are like, ‘That’s the girl that we wanted you to be,’” Hewitt said. “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.”
Does Hewitt consider herself sexy at 44 years old? “I mean, not every day, but you know, I have my moments,” she said. “There’s definitely times where I look in the mirror and I’m like, ‘Oh, dear god, what has happened?’ And there’s other times where I’m like, ‘She’s got it. She’s fine.’”
Watch Hewitt’s full appearance on the “Inside of You” podcast in the video below.