Chloë Grace Moretz Says a Male Costar Body-Shamed Her on Set
It seems like almost every female celeb — including Raven-Symonè, Hilary Duff, Ashley Graham, and Amy Schumer, to name a few — has at least one story about body-shaming. That list now includes Chloë Grace Moretz, who just shared a story about being horribly fat-shamed by an older male costar.
During an interview with Variety for their “Power of Young Hollywood” issue, the 20-year-old actress recalled an incident that occurred when she was just 15. “This guy that was my love interest was like, ‘I’d never date you in real life,’ and I was like, ‘What?’ And he was like, ‘Yeah, you’re too big for me’ — as in my size,” she told Variety, declining to name the actor, who was “23, 24, or 25″ at the time. For the record, there is no circumstance, ever, in which saying something like that would be okay.
Moretz also admitted to how the comment affected her, revealing, “[He] was one of the only actors that ever made me cry on set.” Thankfully, she wasn’t alone at the time. “I went bawling to my brother and he was like, ‘What happened?’ And I was like, ‘He told me I was too big.’ … My brother was so angry.” No doubt.
Unfortunately, she had to return to work. “I had to pick it up and go back on set and pretend he was a love interest, and it was really hard…” she recalled. “It just makes you realize that there are some really bad people out there and for some reason, he felt the need to say that to me. You have to kind of forgive and not forget really, but it was just like wow. It was jarring. I look back on it and I was 15, which is really, really dark.” Dark is certainly one word for it. Incredibly horrible is how we’d put it.
Body-shaming is just one issue that’s come up on set, though. “I’ve had a younger male lead ostracize me and bring up fake issues just to try and put me in my place, and make things up to the director… things that I would never do, unprofessional things that would make no sense,” she said. “I’ve had an actor do that to me… they have this inferiority issue, and I’m like, ‘You are completely equal to me, you are no different than me. I just happen to be the lead in this movie, and I don’t know why just because you are kind of the smaller character that you’re pushing me into a corner to try and put me down.”
She also addressed the issue of equal pay in the industry, noting, “Even if you’re being paid equally, it’s the little things, especially if the male lead is bigger than you — you aren’t listened to as much and you take a back seat.”
However, she chooses to remain optimistic. “I’ve seen a massive shift just in terms of how many female filmmakers have been working recently,” she says, mentioning Desiree Akhavan, the director of Moretz’s upcoming movie The Miseducation of Cameron Post. “We’re making big steps, but it’s a long way. We’re nowhere near the top. We’re just catching up. We have a long way to go.” True, but with people like Moretz paving the way, we’ll get there much faster.
What do you think about the fat-shaming (and other on-set issues) Chloë Grace Moretz has experienced? Let us know @BritandCo.
(h/t Variety; photo via Bennett Raglin/Getty Images for Coach)
