Jennifer Love Hewitt has opened up about the intense s*xualization she faced as a teenager in Hollywood, recalling how “grown men” openly made jokes about her breasts when she was just 16.
During a recent appearance on Mayim Bialik’s Breakdown podcast, the 45-year-old actress reflected on the culture of the time, describing it as “mind-blowing” compared to today.
“There were grown men talking to me at 16 about my breasts openly on a talk show, and people were laughing about it,” Hewitt shared. “It was a culture that was fully accepted, but when you sit and compare where we are now versus then, it’s really shocking.”
Looking back, she admitted it felt strange to be viewed as a sex symbol before she even understood what that meant. “I didn’t know what being sexy was,” she explained.
The Client List star also recalled being approached by random men making inappropriate comments about her 1999 Maxim cover when she was just 17.
“People would walk up to me and say, ‘I took your magazine with me on a trip last week,’” she said, adding that she would laugh off the remarks without fully grasping their implications. “It’s kind of gross.”
Hewitt also remembered how the attention on her body escalated after starring in I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997).
“When the movie came out, everyone was saying, ‘Oh, I know what your breasts did last summer.’ That was the joke,” she said. “Everybody would laugh, so I would laugh. It was supposed to be funny, I guess. It didn’t register with me that a grown man was talking about my body on national television.”
Despite the inappropriate comments, Hewitt said she doesn’t hold grudges against those who made them.
“It was a culture that was fully accepted. They were allowed to believe that was appropriate, and I answered the questions and laughed along,” she admitted.
However, she found it frustrating that her acting was often overlooked in favor of discussions about her looks. “I had worked so hard to be good in a horror movie, and I really wanted people to walk away thinking, ‘That’s a really good actress.’ Instead, every headline for the next 10 to 12 years was about my breasts. That was heartbreaking for me.”
The “Party of Five” alum said at times she would try to downplay the attention on her breasts.
“I had bigger boobs for a smaller person, and so it was embarrassing. I didn’t want to be looked at by a 40-year-old in Pizza Hut,” she said, adding that she “always wore big clothes” to cover up her figure.
Once she starred in “I Know What You Did Last Summer,” she recalled being “so mad” that her chest became the main topic of conversation.
“I had worked so hard trying to be good in a horror movie, and I really wanted people to walk away from the movie going, ‘That’s a really good actress,’” Hewitt said. “And instead, every headline — and I’m not even joking — for 10 or 12 years after that … it was always about my breasts, always first. … That was heartbreaking for me.”
