Jennifer Love Hewitt reflected on the inappropriate comments directed at her when she was sixteen.
The actress, now 45, landed her breakout role in the 1995 teen drama Party Of Five and rose to fame after starring in 1997's I 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's Breakdown podcast.
Highlights
- Jennifer Love Hewitt discussed hurtful comments about her body at age 16.
- The actress reflected on how culture once accepted inappropriate jokes about underage girls.
- Jennifer said she wore oversized clothes so that grown men would stop commenting on her body.
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 shared on 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," the Client List actress said
Image credits: Dr. Mayim Bialik
Jokes about her breasts became normalized after she starred in the horror film I 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."
Image credits: Dr. Mayim Bialik
Jennifer said she found it upsetting that people were constantly commenting on her body instead of focusing on her acting skills.
"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.'
"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
Image credits: Dr. Mayim Bialik
The Client List star further revealed that she wore oversized clothes to hide her figure because she felt "embarrassed" by men looking at her curves.
"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."
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 film I 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 of Maxim at 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 with Elle.
"I think when you start [in Hollywood] younger, the narrative takes off without you. And you kind of go, 'Oh, okay…so I'm that person? Great!' Before I ever knew in my life what 'sexy' was, I was on the sexy list."
Image credits: Jennifer Love Hewitt
In addition to acting, she has released four albums, the most recent of which came out in 2002, and served as a producer on some of her films and TV series.
The Golden Globe nominee is set to reprise her role in a new I Know What You Did Last Summer film, reuniting with her former co-star Freddie Prinze Jr. The movie is scheduled for release on July 18, 2025.