Jennifer Love Hewitt speaks out on being sexualised aged 16 calling out 'grown men talking about her breasts'
Jennifer Love Hewitt has called out the inappropriate comments she received as a teenager in Hollywood.
After joining the Disney Channel as a child, Hewitt got her acting breakthrough as a teenager in 1997 hit slasher film I Know What You Did Last Summer and its sequel I Still Know What You Did Last Summer.
However, being thrust into the public eye at a young age wasn't always easy for the actress, as she has now opened up on the creepy sexualisation she received as a teenager.
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Following her role in teen drama series Party of Five, Hewitt was just 18-years-old when the cult favourite, which also featured Buffy star Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe, and Freddie Prinze Jr, hit cinemas.
And as the film's main character, Hewitt received a lot of media attention — primarily directed at her looks and body.
Reflecting on the early days of her career in an interview on Mayim Bialik’s Breakdown podcast (via US Weekly), the actress revealed that it wasn't until she reached her thirties that she realised it was 'really strange' for people to be calling her a 'sex symbol' so young.
"There were grown men talking to me at 16 about my breasts just openly on a talk show, and people were laughing about it," she said.
"In hindsight it was really strange I think to become a sex symbol sort of for people before I even knew what that was."
Recalling how people would joke that 'I know what your breasts did last summer' at the time, Hewitt said: "Everybody would laugh, and so I would laugh because it was supposed to be funny, I guess.
"It didn’t register with me that this was a grown man talking about my breasts on national television."
Going on to explain that she had no idea 'what sexy meant' at the time, the Garfield actress added that she doesn't blame people who made the comments as it was 'part of the culture' at the time.
"They were allowed to believe that that was appropriate, I answered the questions, laughed right along. I have no problem with them for doing it," Hewitt added.
"But when you sit and you look at where we are now versus then, it’s really mind-blowing."
Hewitt will reprise her role as Julie James in the upcoming reboot of I Know What You Did Last Summer, alongside Prinze Jr. and a new cast which features Nicholas Alexander Chavez and Madelyn Cline.
Topics: Celebrity, TV and Film, Entertainment, Podcast
Brenna Cooper