The actress, now 45, landed her breakout role in the 1995 teen dramaParty Of Fiveand rose to fame after starring in 1997’sI Know What You Did Last Summer.
Jennifer opened up about the negative consequences of being in the spotlight as a teen during an episode of Dr. Mayim Bialik’sBreakdownpodcast.
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Jennifer Love Hewitt opened up about the inappropriate jokes grown men made about her breasts when she was sixteen
Image credits:Vinnie Zuffante/Getty Images
Image credits:Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images
“There were grown men talking to me at 16 about my breasts openly on a talk show, and people were laughing about it,”she sharedon Tuesday (January 28).
“It was a culture that was fully accepted, but when you sit, and you look at where we are now versus then, it is really mind-blowing.
“In hindsight, it was really strange, I think, to become a sex symbol before I even knew what that was. I didn’t know what being sexy meant.”
“It was a culture that was fully accepted, but when you sit and you look at where we are now versus then, it is really mind-blowing,” theClient Listactress said
Image credits:Dr. Mayim Bialik
Jokes about her breasts became normalized after she starred in thehorror filmI Know What You Did Last Summer, Jennifer shared.
At the time, she didn’t stop to think whether the jokes were appropriate. She went along with them because no one around her seemed to question it either.
“When the movie came out, everybody said, ‘Oh, I know what your breasts did last summer,’ and that was, like, the joke.
“And, again, everybody would laugh, so I would laugh. It was supposed to be funny, I guess.
“It didn’t register with me that this is a grown man talking to me about my breasts on national television.”
Jennifer said she found it upsetting that people were constantlycommentingon her body instead of focusing on her acting skills.
“I had worked so hard trying to be good in ahorror movie, and I really wanted people to walk away from the movie going, ‘That’s a really good actress.’
“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.”
Jennifer said she laughed along because she didn’t understand how inappropriate the jokes were at the time
Despite the discomfort these jokes bring to her now, Jennifer said she doesn’t “blame” those who commented on her body.
“It was a culture that was fully accepted. They were allowed to believe that that was appropriate, and I answered the questions and laughed right along with them.”
She rose to fame after starring in the teen horror filmI Know What You Did Last Summer
Image credits:IMDB
She especially remembers when men she didn’t know approached her after she appeared on the cover ofMaximat 17.
“People would openly walk up and be like, ‘I took your magazine with me on a trip last week,'” she said. “I didn’t really know what that meant. It’s kind of gross.”
The mom of three previously spoke about her imposed sex symbol status—her “narrative” as an actress—in a 2018 interview withElle.
“I think when you start [in Hollywood] younger, the narrative takes off without you. And you kind of go, ‘Oh, okay…so I’mthatperson? Great!’ Before I ever knew in my life what ‘sexy’ was, I was on the sexy list.”
Image credits:Jennifer Love Hewitt
Jennifer began acting when she was 10 on theDisney Channel showKids Incorporated.
The Golden Globe nominee is set toreprise her rolein a newI Know What You Did Last Summerfilm, reuniting with her former co-star Freddie Prinze Jr. The movie is scheduled for release on July 18, 2025.
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