“I would carry that for years because how could you not?”
Jordana Brewster is opening up about her past experience with unrealistic body standards in Hollywood.
In an interview with the lifestyle website The Retaility, the 41-year-old actress said she used to be told to lose weight for roles, noting that there was pressure for women “to look a certain way” in the past.
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“Ten years ago, I was so concerned about, ‘How does my stomach look? How does my butt look?'” she recalled. “I call it the Maxim era and the FHM era of, ‘Yes, you have to be talented, but you also have to be a certain size and not too fat and not too skinny.'”
Brewster continued, “There was so much pressure on actresses to look a certain way and that’s exhausting and such a waste of energy because instead of reading or focusing on your character, you’re focused on ‘How do I look right now and is it perfect enough?'”
“I used to get notes, ‘They’re asking you to lose some weight,’ and I would carry that for years because how could you not?” she added. Brewster didn’t share any further details about who specifically gave her notes or which roles she was told to drop weight for.
Now, years later, Brewster recalled showing some skin while filming a scene for the upcoming indie drama, “The Integrity of Joseph Chambers.”
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The script included Brewster’s character pulling down her pants and revealing her backside in order to make a point. Although it was in the script, Brewster said the film’s director and her co-star didn’t expect she would go for it, but she did.
“I’m going to totally f—— do this because what do I have to lose? Beforehand I went shopping for cute thongs. And I did it,” she said. “They were all like, ‘Jordana! What are you doing?!’ They had no idea it was coming.”
Brewster — who will next be seen reprising her role as Mia Toretto in “F9,” out Friday — also pointed out that the way women are being portrayed on screen has started to change.
“When I watch TV, I’m like, ‘Wow. It’s so refreshing that the women can wear stuff that’s not [revealing],'” she said. “They’re not being treated as sex symbols unless that’s important to their character. That’s awesome and it’s reflecting life a little bit more. I think we’re going in the right direction.”
