This post contains discussion of body image issues.
You know Kat Dennings from plenty of things. It’s possible you’re even watching her on the new ABC show Shifting Gears.
Of course, Hollywood has been pretty cruel to child actors across its existence — and in a new interview with People, Kat got real about how she was body-shamed at a young age by a casting director.
“The time that I was auditioning and starting to act, it was a very different environment than it is now,” she said. “There was not a lot of inclusivity at all. It was very harsh. There was a lot of extremely negative feedback and people would not hold back.”
Kat went on to specify how casting directors in particular could be “very cruel” when talking to children: “It was pretty crazy thinking about it. I’m like, ‘How can anyone say that about a little kid? This is insane.'”
“For example, I was 12. I’d go into an audition and I’d do it, and my manager would call me and I’d be like, ‘How’d it go?’ And they’d be like, ‘Well, they thought you weren’t pretty enough and you’re fat.'”
Kat went on to say that such comments ultimately didn’t “break my spirit.” “Props to my parents, because they were like, ‘They’re idiots. Don’t listen to them.’ And I was like, ‘They’re idiots, I’m not.'”
Kat also claimed that today’s entertainment industry is “much softer [and] kinder” than the “completely insane” environment she faced as a child actor.
“There’s body positivity, there’s inclusivity, there’s representation, and there was none of that before. It was really gross.”
