Approaching four decades as a working actress, Jennifer Love Hewitt has matured in the limelight. The “Party of Five” actress, now 44, admits that “aging is a privilege” she is lucky to experience.
“It means you’re here. It means you’re still living it,” she explained, adding that every face line or indent is an indication that you’ve experienced emotion.
“But aging in Hollywood is really hard. It’s really hard because you can’t do anything right,” she told Michael Rosenbaum on his podcast “Inside of You.”
The topic hit close to home, as Hewitt shared that after a recent haircut, she had been subjected to some nasty headlines suggesting she looked starkly different. Hewitt shared her look on social media, opting to filter the picture since she wasn’t wearing any makeup.
“I really gave it no thought,” she added of the decision.
Jennifer Love Hewitt, 44, says it’s hard to age in Hollywood. Hewitt started in the industry as a child actor. (Jennifer Love Hewitt)
“The picture ended up somewhere. And a bunch of people were like, ‘Jennifer Love Hewitt is unrecognizable,'” she said of some of the brutal headlines written. “‘She’s unrecognizable and so she’s gone to filters because she doesn’t want us to know how bad she actually looks now in her 40s.’ And I was like, ‘This is crazy.’ Right?
“So then, I did a bunch of like over-the-top, like crazy filters on my Instagram, and I was like, ‘Au Natural. No filter’ Like trying to make fun of it. And then they came after me for that… They were like, ‘Now she’s just defending herself.’
“I realized,” she lamented, “I can do no right.”
When asked why she can’t ignore the negative commentary, Hewitt suggested that it’s an impossible task.
Jennifer Love Hewitt photographed at two red carpets in 1998 (L) and 1999 (R). (Getty Images)
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“To pretend that we don’t [care] is a lie. We’re human and yes they’re known as haters,” the “9-1-1” actress said. “But it’s human nature to be like, ‘What do people think about me?’ I’ve been an actor for 36 years… You don’t want to care what people think about you, but you have to care what people think about you. You want to know what’s out there.
“The only reason those people bother me… I am a mother of a girl. And it’s dangerous what we put on people. It’s dangerous, I think, to say to women, ‘You can’t look like you’re not 22 to me anymore, because I don’t know how to take that.’ OK well, that’s your problem! ‘Cause I’m 44 and this is what I look like.”
Hewitt and her husband Brian Hallisay share three children together.
Jennifer Love Hewitt currently stars on the television series “9-1-1.” (FOX via Getty Images)
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Hewitt is quick to note the irony that at the age she was dubbed “sexy,” she actually didn’t feel “self-confident.”
“I felt like I had to be everything for everybody all the time. I was called ‘sexy’ before I even knew what being sexy was. I was 17 years old on the cover of Maxim. And I had no idea why.”
I’ve been an actor for 36 years…You don’t want to care what people think about you but you have to care what people think about you. You want to know what’s out there.”
Jennifer Love Hewitt says the majority of comments she receives are really supportive. (Jerod Harris/WireImage)
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“It’s weird for me when people are like, ‘That’s the girl that we wanted you to be.’ I’m like, that girl was so insecure and was so confused… This girl,” she said, pointing to herself, “I like who I am. I feel good.”
Despite the criticism, Hewitt also noted that many of her followers have grown up alongside her, making the situation less foreign.
“I will say the majority of people have been very kind to me — they’ve grown up with me. They look like I do now,” she said of her fans.
