Jennifer Love Hewitt is looking back on the sexualization of her younger self.
While the actress acknowledged that “she was a looker” in her 20s, she admitted on a recent episode of the “Inside of You” podcast that she “wasn’t in her body” at the time.
“I felt watched. I felt like I had to be everything for everybody all the time,” the “Party of Five” alum, 44, explained on the Dec. 5 episode. “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,” she recalled.
Now, Hewitt finds it “weird” that some people still “want [her] to be” that version of herself.
“That girl was so insecure and so confused,” she said. “But this girl — who may not look [that] way — I like who I am. I feel good. I’m fine.”
However, Hewitt does “have [her] moments” every once in awhile.
“There [are] definitely times where I look in the mirror and I’m like, ‘Oh, dear God, what has happened?’” she confessed. “[But] I’m 44, and this is what I look like.”
The “9-1-1” star made headlines earlier this year when she was deemed “unrecognizable” after cutting her hair and using a social media filter.
Hewitt, who stood up for herself at the time, addressed the September clapback on the podcast as she dished on how “hard” it has been “aging in Hollywood.”
She eventually realized she can “do no right” and her appearance is only a “problem” for trolls.
“It’s dangerous to say to women, ‘You can’t look like you’re not 22 to me anymore,’” said the Golden Globe nominee, who shares three children with husband Brian Hallisay. “Because I’m 44, and this is what I look like.”