Jennifer Love Hewitt has candidly shared the emotional impact of a heartbreaking moment that triggered her body image insecurities.
In a recent interview with Vulture, the actress reflected on the lasting effects of public scrutiny, her journey through Hollywood, and her return to projects that truly resonate with her.
Looking back on her early career, Hewitt expressed a sense of optimism.
“I just had blind faith in myself,” she said. “I highly recommend it.”
However, that self-assurance took a major hit in her mid-20s when paparazzi snapped photos of her on a Hawaiian vacation. The images were published alongside the harsh headline, “Stop Calling Me Fat!”
“I was having the time of my life,” she recalled. “I had made up this silly song about eating snacks and playing in the ocean, singing it to my boyfriend while doing a goofy dance. They caught that moment—and it ended up on the cover.”
What may have seemed like a fleeting headline to the outside world had a profound and lasting impact on Jennifer Love Hewitt’s self-image.
“I don’t think I was ever really insecure until that cover,” she admitted. “And when it happened, I’m not sure I’ve ever truly gotten over it.”
That moment wasn’t just a tough day — it marked a pivotal shift in how she saw herself.
“There’s always this voice in my head now asking, ‘Is this version of me going to be good enough, or is something like that going to happen again?’” she said. “Like someone catching me without makeup at the cleaners and saying, ‘She looks 59.’”
The emotional weight of the incident became clearer to her during the interview: “Because that was the real me. I think that’s why it stayed with me so long. I’m only now realizing—I was just being myself that day, and this is what happened.”
Throughout her struggles, Hewitt found strength in her mother, Patricia Mae Hewitt, who passed away in 2012 following a battle with cancer.
“She told me, ‘You don’t get it. You can’t win. People are just reacting to the version of you they think they own,’” Hewitt shared. “She said, ‘Take your power back. Be yours, and stop worrying about what others think.’”
Hewitt also opened up about the discomfort she now feels when reflecting on how she was sexualized early in her career, through roles in films like I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997), Can’t Hardly Wait (1998), and Heartbreakers (2001).
“It actually bothers me more now than it did back then, probably because I was too deep in it to notice,” she said.
“Before I even really understood what sex was, I had already been labeled a sex symbol. I’m not even sure I’ve fully defined that for myself, because it all started in such a strange way.”
