Megan Fox has opened up about her struggles with fame around the time she was making 2009’s Jennifer’s Body, admitting she was “full of rage” towards the entertainment industry and felt like she was being “persecuted”.
The actress played the titular role in the cult favourite comedy horror film, which follows a high school student who is possessed by a demon as she kills her male classmates.
Speaking at an Academy Museum of Motion Pictures screening of the film (via People), Fox reflected on her feelings around that time, explaining that she was “so lost” and “so full of that rage” around how she was being “treated in the industry”, as well as how she was dealing with her rise to fame before filming.
Fox recalled one incident where she left a premiere for another commitment, explaining how the “paparazzi were so ruthless back then” in “the way they would talk to women”.
“And I walked out just to try to get to my car, and they’re all shooting,” she shared. “And one guy’s like, ‘Megan, why are you such a bitch?’ And another guy is like, ‘Megan, do you think you’re overrated? The internet says so,’ and I’m just trying to do my job.”
“I was asked to be at this premiere. I’m trying to get to my car. And so I had all of this grief and sorrow and also anger and rage that needed a place to go. And like I said, being able to just have the permission to be unhinged even in between takes or maybe the entire time we were there, that was very cathartic for me.”
Fox elaborated on how she resonated with Jennifer’s Body, saying: “There’s something about that, whether it’s just perceived or not, I felt like I was being persecuted at that time in my career, and I was struggling a lot with fame and kind of traumatised by fame.
“And so I resonated with those deeper layers of… you know, before she becomes a monster, she’s just a teenage girl who gets sacrificed for somebody else’s gain. And that very much resonated because that’s kind of how I got… I came into this industry, I think I was 19 when I made my first big movie, and that, I felt like, was reflecting back these energies that existed inside of myself.”
She said that playing Jennifer “also gave me a place to put those qualities of myself that are really unhinged, that are not appropriate to express every day of your life, but are still there nonetheless”. “And so there was something so fun about getting to tap into that darker feminine energy that no one really wants to allow,” she added.
The actress further called the process “very healing”, adding: “I was really struggling at that time. And if I had been able to warn myself or give myself advice or have any sort of grounding or clarity, I don’t think you would’ve gotten the performance that you got.”
Meanwhile, Fox’s co-star Amanda Seyfried, who plays best friend Anita ‘Needy’ Lesnicki, teased a Jennifer’s Body sequel earlier this year.
Earlier this month, Paramore‘s Hayley Williams revealed that the band were forced to turn down contributing a song to the Jennifer’s Body soundtrack due to former bandmate Josh Farro’s reservations about the film. However, Williams’s own song ‘Teenagers‘ does appear in the film.
English (US) · 