Jennifer Love Hewitt opens up about her experiences with ageism in Hollywood

Jennifer Love Hewitt she’s been a bonafide Hollywood star since the 1990s—and she’s opening up about it unrealistic expectations that come with being in the limelight for decades.

“I feel like fans pick this age that they love, that they think represents you, and you should never go past that age,” Hewitt, 45 said Fox New Digital in an interview published on Thursday, December 26. “For me, it was like me and my 20s. People seem to have a really hard time accepting that I don’t look like that anymore.’

While Hewitt started her acting career at a young age Kids Incorporatedshe got her first big break at age 16 when she landed the role of Sarah Reeves on Fox’s Party of Five. Two years later, she became a worldwide sensation with 1997 slasher hit I know what you did last summer and its subsequent continuation. Since then she has acted in shows like The time of your life, Client list and Ghost Whispererand released four studio albums.

While some may have had trouble watching how she evolved over the years, Hewitt — who shares children, Autumn, 11, Atticus, 9, and Aidan, 3, with husband Brian Hallisay — sees aging as a beautiful thing.

“Age is age,” she explained. “I think women in their 40s are really coming into this acceptance of themselves and comfort, which is beautiful.”

These days Maddie Buckley plays ABC Procedural 9-1-1 and just released Holiday junkiea TV movie she directed and starred in.

“It’s hard because I think as humans we want to evolve,” she continued. “We want to have wrinkles on our faces and you know we have smaller breasts because we’re breastfeeding our babies or, you know, we have bigger butts.”

However, Hewitt is only human and can’t help but notice troll comments on social media from time to time.

“Whatever it is, at this age you want to have the freedom to be whoever you want to be,” she explained. “And sometimes it’s painful when people reject you when you’re verbally on Instagram or on the Internet because it’s hard for them to adjust to that.”

Criticism reached a boiling point last year when Hewitt posted a photo of herself without make-up, leading to claims she was “unrecognisable”. She addressed the photo in the December 2023 episode Michael Rosenbaum“Inside of You” podcast.

“That picture ended up somewhere. And a lot of people were like, ‘Jennifer Love Hewitt is unrecognizable,'” she said. “‘She’s unrecognizable, so she switched to filters because she doesn’t want us to know how bad she really looks now in her 40s.’ And I was like, ‘This is crazy.’ Right?”

Hewitt also took time to look back at her younger self and offer some advice to the teenager who graced the cover Max at the age of 17.

“Look, it will work.” You get old and they keep letting you do it,” she said. “It’s okay. You’re fine.”