Jennifer Love Hewitt is fighting back against ageism in Hollywood.
While Hewitt has been in the spotlight for decades, she hit back at critics who scrutinized her appearance while she was growing up.
“Age is age,” she told Fox News Digital. “I think women really fall into that place in their 40s…it’s beautiful to accept yourself and feel comfortable.”
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Jennifer Love Hewitt tells Fox News Digital how she’s dealing with hateful rhetoric about her aging in Hollywood. (McCotland/FilmMagic/Getty Images)
Although the “Holiday Smash” star says she loves her age now, she admits that the most challenging aspect is the public’s reaction to her getting older.
Hewitt starred in and directed her first Christmas movie, “Holiday Crush.” (Chris Haston/WBTV via Getty Images)
“While it’s hard for me… I feel like fans pick… an age that they think represents you that they like, but you should never go beyond that,” she explained, citing Taylor Swift A quote from Swift.
Freddie Prinze Jr. and Jennifer Love Hewitt in a scene from the 1998 film “I Still Know What You Did Last Summer.” (Columbia Photos/Getty Images)
For Hewitt, she’s found that fans mostly admire her for how she looked in her 20s. Hewitt is best known for her role in the I Know What You Did Last Summer film series, in which she starred opposite Sarah Michelle Gellar and Freddie Prinze Jr. and “Heartbreaker” with Sigourney Weaver and the cult classic “Can’t Wait.”
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“For me… just like when I was in my 20s… people seem to have a hard time accepting that… I don’t look like that anymore,” the 45-year-old admitted.
Jennifer Love Hewitt responds to saying she’s ‘unrecognizable’: ‘It’s really hard to get older in Hollywood’
“It’s hard because I think as humans, we want to evolve… we want to have wrinkles on our faces, you know our breasts are lower from breastfeeding our kids, or you know our butts are bigger,” she laughed Said.
“Whatever it is, you just want to have the freedom to be yourself at that age. When you’re verbally rejected by people on Instagram or the internet, sometimes it hurts because it’s hard for them to adapt.”
Jennifer Love Hewitt previously posted a filtered photo on Instagram and was met with some hurtful comments. (Jennifer Love Hewitt)
Last year, the Party of Five actress responded to claims she was “unrecognizable” after sharing a photo on social media.
“It hurts sometimes when people reject you for who you are.”
Hewitt chose to put a filter on the photo she posted because she was not wearing makeup, and received some nasty comments and headlines suggesting she looked completely different.
Jennifer Love Hewitt was photographed on the red carpet twice in 1998 (left) and 1999 (right). (Getty Images)
“This photo ended up somewhere. A lot of people were like, ‘Jennifer Love Hewitt is unrecognizable,'” she said on Michael Rosenbaum’s podcast.
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“‘She’s unrecognizable, so she’s wearing a filter because she doesn’t want us to know how bad she looks now in her 40s.'” I was like, ‘This is crazy.’ Correct?
Hewitt has previously pointed out that the irony was that she didn’t fully understand what it meant to be sexy when she was younger, as she appeared on the cover of Maxim at just 17 years old.
The cast of Party of Five. (Left) Lacey Chabot, Scott Wolfe, Paula Devitch, Neve Campbell and Jennifer Love Hewitt. (Photo by Jim Smeal/Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images)
Now, since becoming a mother of three, the Hollywood actress has changed her mind about how her fans view her.
“I have a daughter and I’m very sensitive about it because I don’t want my child to read these things and feel that way…or worry about me being harmed…It’s hard to do that sometimes.”
Hewitt’s daughters appear to be following in their parents’ acting footsteps. They participated in the Christmas movie “Holiday Crush.”
The Lifetime film, directed by Hewitt, is her first Christmas movie and focuses on her character Andy’s time during the holidays after the loss of her mother.
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Although her character faces a tough time, her spirits are lifted when she discovers an unexpected Christmas romance.
Jennifer Love Hewitt looks at her husband behind the scenes of the Christmas movie “Holiday Crush.” (Jennifer Love Hewitt/Instagram)
Her on-screen love interest is played by her real-life husband Brian Hallisay. The couple first met on the set of Lifetime’s film Love Bites and tied the knot in November 2013. ) and 3-year-old Aidan.
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Hewitt, who has been acting since she was a child, revealed to Fox News Digital the advice she would give to her younger self.
“I’ve always been a worrier,” she said. “I’m just always worried… I’m having fun at work, and [thought] This will be my last, or… people will kick me out of Hollywood and stop letting me act.
Hewitt told Fox News Digital that she would tell her younger self, “Look, it’s going to work out. You’re going to start getting older, but they’re still going to let you do things.” (Jerrod Harris/WireImage)
“Or I’d be silly… whatever it was. I just always worried… I absolutely loved it and was there… had a great time and all that stuff. But I wasted a lot of time worrying. I guess I would just say to her, ‘Look, you’re going to start getting older, but they’re still going to let you do things… and that’s OK.
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