Jennifer Love Hewitt Reflects on Being Sexualized in Her Teen Years: ‘I Didn’t Even Know What Sexy Meant’

Jennifer Love Hewitt has shared her thoughts on becoming a sex symbol during her adolescent years. She recalls frequently facing inquiries about her breasts from older men in the entertainment industry, US Weekly reported.

At just 18, Hewitt gained international recognition from the 1997 horror movie "I Know What You Did Last Summer." However, she began receiving attention for her body even earlier. During an episode of Mayim Bialik's podcast, "Breakdown," Hewitt expressed surprise at how she was treated as a young teen.

"In my 30s, I revisited that time and thought, ‘Oh my God’," Hewitt remarked. She reflected on instances where grown men discussed her body openly on talk shows. While this did not register with her then, she now finds it strange that such conversations happened surrounding someone so young and unaware of her emerging image as a sex symbol.

Now at 45, Hewitt recalls doing photo shoots for men's magazines without fully understanding the implications. "I was on the cover of Maxim, and people approached me mentioning how they’d taken the magazine on a trip," she shared. "I genuinely did not grasp what that entailed. It felt innocent and exciting at the time."

Hewitt also mentioned wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with ‘Silicon Free’ following rumors of breast enhancement surgeries. She described a culture where jokes about her body were casually accepted. "After the film's release, people made comments like, ‘I know what your breasts did last summer,’" she recalls, noting how now it seems peculiar for a grown man to be discussing her anatomy publicly.

Reflecting further, Hewitt expressed gratitude for not being more affected by the scrutiny during her youth. "Had I considered it more seriously, it might have impacted me adversely. However, it didn’t, for some reason," she noted. She recalled her emotional response while watching the Britney Spears documentary, which connected with her own experiences of being questioned and objectified.

Moreover, Hewitt appreciates the progress in discussions around body image since her rise to fame. "While I don’t fault anyone for asking those questions at the time, it reflects a vastly different culture," she stated. Now, looking back, she recognizes the significant change in societal attitudes concerning body image in the media.

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