Megan Fox: “I think I was ahead of the #MeToo movement by almost a decade”
The Jennifer's Body actress opened up about being "ridiculed" for calling out misogynistic experiences she faced in the 2000s
Aux News Megan Fox
Since her time acting in blockbusters like Michael Bay’s Transformers films and Karyn Kusama’s horror-comedy Jennifer’s Body, Megan Fox has had something of a resurgence in the culture. Her portrayal of the demon-possessed teen with an appetite for boys in Jennifer’s Body has reached cult-status for a new generation of film lovers, giving fresh life to the snarky horror flick that was highly misunderstood by critics back in 2009.
Along with Jennifer’s Body, the perception of Fox stemming from coverage of her during the 2000s has altered, too. From the hyper-fixation on her body after being deemed a sex symbol, to the backlash Fox faced for speaking out about her experiences on film sets, it’s easier in 2o22 to see the misogyny she experienced daily.
In a recent cover interview with Glamour UK, Fox describes the difficulty she encountered with calling out sexist practices in the 2000s.
“I think that I was ahead of the #MeToo movement by almost a decade,” Fox explains. “I was always speaking out against some of the abusive, misogynistic, patriarchal things that were going on in Hollywood back in 2008 and 2009, way before people were ready to embrace that or tolerate it. And I actually got ridiculed for doing it. I think people just have had time to review that, in retrospect.”
Fox says that she was concerned about speaking out on her “genuinely harrowing experiences in a ruthlessly misogynistic industry,” and adds that she didn’t feel seen as a “very sympathetic victim” for feminists at the time.
“I didn’t feel like I was accepted by much of the feminist community,” continues Fox. “Whatever I provoke in them is not something that they can digest very well. And so that comes back on me, as they reject me for those reasons.”
This feeling of being “dehumanized” is what Fox explains led to a “psychological breakdown” around that time, leading her to avoid public life for many years.
“I wasn’t allowed to be a human, because I was a topic of conversation and gossip and punch lines,” Fox adds. “I was essentially in hiding for several years of my life.”
Even as she’s currently being celebrated as a feminist in 2022, Fox said she still faces criticism over certain things like calling her fiancé Machine Gun Kelly ‘daddy’ on an MTV VMAs red carpet—something that sent the internet into a frenzy.
“A lot of people got upset about that, which I think is a funny conversation to actually have, because that goes into allowing women to be…women,” Fox pointed out. “Allowing us to experience what we want in life, what we like. That is feminism.”
69 Comments
I think the last time I watched Jennifer’s Body was like a decade + and probably due for a rewatch (and only an hour 42 minutes and on Disney Plus). I remember quips by Diablo Cody.
Diablo Cody’s quips are the worst thing about it, tbh.Right now we’re doing this weird “Jennifer’s Body was perfect, actually” atonement, which is definitely overdone. It’s just a solid little horror movie that was unfairly slated by critics and doomed by the “sexxxy babe killing stuff” marketing (I own the Blu-ray, which has a featurette called “Megan Fox is Hot” that is just a minute of clips of her being hot) when it should’ve been aimed women and girls since at it’s core, it’s a story about toxic female friendship.
Every time I see the words “Diablo Cody” I cannot help but hear Dr. Evil’s famous words: “There’s nothing more pathetic than an ageing hipster”.
Ageist shit heads that still call people hipsters are way more pathetic
Are you posting this on a HAMBURGER PHONE?DO I HAVE TO SPEAK UP?
Honest to blog?
Yeah, Megan Fox was pretty hard done by, but from what I remember Jennifer’s Body isn’t exactly an unfairly maligned gem of perfection. It’s a decent enough horror movie, but it’s not a classic either, and that’s fineIt’s a little like how everyone kind of overcompensates for all the OTT flak Kristen Stewart received back in the day by now acting like she’s actually the world’s greatest living actress. Which, I appreciate the sentiment and all, but nah, that’s also going a bit too far IMO, she’s fine as well.
Yeah I remember intentionally skipping it because of Cody. But then I saw Young Adult, which was amazing—perhaps only because I watched it at the exact right time in my life, experiencing similar things to Theron’s character–so maybe I need to give it another shot.
Yeah that movie was “Diablo Cody’s Juno follow-up” and not a Megan Fox movie, I don’t think. Or an Amanda Seyfried movie, another actress who’s managed to reinvent herself.
which is exactly why i never watched it. diablo cody dialogue is exhausting.
I mean, she’s not wrong. Especially when it came to how she described working with Michael Bay—and then Steven Spielberg demanded she be fired from the Transformers franchise when Fox compared Bay to Hitler, which made some sense at the time, especially given how sensitive Spielberg was about Hitler and the Holocaust after Schindler’s List, but now comes off as petty.And yeah. People were really mean about Megan Fox at the time. She was just a bombshell without any talent, which isn’t true at all. She is consistently good and even great in most of her films. Jennifer’s Body was years ahead of the discourse, and just generally rules. She’s great in Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen and This Is 40. I hope she is further reclaimed and has a comeback.
someone comparing their boss to hitler in a printed interview is a reasonable reason to be fired but heres the quote:
“God, I really wish I could go loose on this one. He’s like Napoleon and he wants to create this insane, infamous mad man reputation. He wants to be like Hitler on his sets, and he is. So he’s a nightmare to work for but when you get him away from set, and he’s not in director mode, I kind of really enjoy his personality because he’s so awkward, so hopelessly awkward. He has no social skills at all. And it’s endearing to watch him. He’s vulnerable and fragile in real life and then on set he’s a tyrant. Shia and I almost die when we make a Transformers movie. He has you do some really insane things that insurance would never let you do.”
its actually not the worse thing one could say, but the last line could have also raised some eyebrows with the people producing the film
“He wants to be like Hitler on his sets, and he is.”I can’t imagine saying anything worse than that about someone. But okay…
I agree with what she’s saying about being ahead of #metoo – I hear her there. I don’t want to change the topic too much but I also want to say she is ahead of her time in the lost two sentences, as well! I was working with a stunt woman a few years back who was giving me all the stunt people dirt… Michael Bay has a terrible reputation for disregarding safety. The conversation about safety on sets is kind of seeing the light of day after Rust but it’s too focused on Alec Baldwin—it’s an industry wide issue.
Spielberg denied he fired her.
https://ew.com/article/2011/12/02/steven-spielberg-ew-interview/
I believe him. The conflict was between Fox and Bay, and he did everything he could to tarnish her reputation. Spielberg has never been known to be this petty, and he did have Hitler as a character in one of his Indiana Jones movie, so he’s not that sensitive.
Petty, maybe not, but there are certainly stories about him being vindictive. He apparently was a driving force between semi-blacklisting Gary Oldman from Hollywood films for a decade after they got into an argument during the editing of The Contender: http://archive.moviecitynews.com/2014/06/gary-oldmans-foot-in-mouth-disease/
Gary Oldman won an Oscar a few years ago, for a movie no one saw that was mostly ageing makeup.
To be fair to Spielberg on that, even Gary Oldman calls Gary Oldman an asshole.
Portrayed by the same actor who played Admiral Ozzel in Empire and Mr Bronson in Grange Hill, actor Michael Sheard. This was actually his third time playing Hitler.
he did have Hitler as a character in one of his Indiana Jones moviesYes, where Indy is retrieving a book and Hitler thinks he wants him to sign it, and he does. Is it at a book burning? I think it is – so why does Hitler want to autograph the book? It’s been years since I’ve seen the movie but that scene doesn’t seem to make much sense, and we know how logical all those movies are.
It wasn’t even that people thought she was untalented. From what I remember no one had a problem with her acting. It was her persona. The same reason people don’t like Olivia Munn or Jennifer Lawrence. The effortless gorgeous sex fantasy that loves anal and drinking beer, will never be mad at you, will play video games with you and then be up for whatever sex you want. No one thinks a person like that can be real.
I actually heard and read a lot of criticism of her acting. One review for Jonah Hex I read (not a great movie apparently) called her a spoiled child wanted to sit at the adults table. That being said, I think she does comedy better than drama, and her early career seemed slightly more focused on drama.
“called her a spoiled child wanted to sit at the adults table.”And in your mind that’s criticism of her acting?
I actually heard and read a lot of criticism of her acting.
That’s because acting talent is “subjective.” So when people hate for other reasons, like someone being gorgeous, or whatever, it’s an easy go-to that doesn’t have to be defended with any kind of argument or rationale. You can just unload. And if someone else disagrees, you can accuse them of having bad taste.
I remember DiCaprio getting the same treatment in his early years. People said he was a pretty boy who couldn’t act: a routine punchline. But that was never true; they just needed a reasonable-sounding angle so they could vent their jealousy and insecurity.
I never thought he was a bad actor but up until pretty recently, I thought and still think he wasn’t a very interesting one
He’s a version of River Phoenix that would never have made My Own Private Idaho
Yeah, she’s straight hilarious in This Is 40. It was fun to watch her embrace a bit of goofiness.
I thought everybody loved Jennifer Lawrence (at least, at the height of her fame). She was America’s relatable bestie.
They did, then when she started going on about never washing her hands after taking a shit (which was apparently a joke that didn’t land) and crapping in pools on set, she became somewhat less relatable.
I think that’s how Lawrence wanted to be perceived, but people weren’t buying her “oh I’m just some dork who got lucky and doesn’t take all of this terribly seriously” act.
But Megan Fox never presented that ‘cool girl’ persona – as this very article points out, she repeatedly criticized the men around her. And was punished for it. In this 2009 interview she literally said, “I’m so suspicious of all boys-slash-men. I just don’t like them or trust them” – the opposite of the Cool Girl.
https://www.elle.com/culture/celebrities/a10034/megan-fox-323890/
She’s a hack.
wasn’t she supposed to be the next angelina jolie? that was how someone described her to me back then.
Me too movement created by Tarana Burke: 2006.Megan Fox claims her start of me too movement: 2009.Once again, white women failing to recognize intersectionality, and per usual, the work of marginalized women before them. I get it’s not intentional, but damn. It’s 2022. Did learning not to have your avatar black mean anything?
Not megan’s fault, no one heard of it until a decade after the phrase was coined
i did not know it started in 2006, thank you
I also didn’t know that. But then, I don’t care.
White women failing to recognize intersectionality is a problem, but Fox was pretty clearly referring to MeToo’s rise to actual prominence in 2017, not asserting that she was the first person to ever speak up about the issue.
There may be more context in the actual interview. The wording of the quote pulled here comes across as super obnoxious, but she isn’t wrong (and she isn’t claiming she started the metoo movement either… at least not here. That is a wild stretch). She was talking about those things before it was acceptable to do so. Most people don’t know the origin of #metoo and only became familiar with the movement when it became prominent.
The wording of the quote pulled here comes across as super obnoxious- The AV Club
And she’s right. She got railed by Michael Bay. A lot of self-identified feminists couldn’t handle a gorgeous, sexy, guy’s-girl cool girl being right about this stuff.
The way you write about Megan Fox is creepy
You are pretending to be a leftist.
Are you pretending to be a contrarian?
Recognizing that white feminists routinely ignore intersectional feminism makes someone a fake leftist? You think the far right is talking about intersectional feminism?
C’mon – I’m pretty agnostic about Fox as an actress, but no one can ignore the wildly sexist coverage and casting she has endured throughout her career. She has also been pretty consistent in calling out mistreatment. She has no responsibility to perfectly articulate the totality of a social problem.I don’t think every white woman, or every woman, period has to preface every complaint with an acknowledgment of intersectionality. Fox was victimized because she dared to open her mouth about bad treatment – same with Heigl. It’s hard to imagine any rationale for their post-complaint treatment except for their sex. Are their complaints less legitimate, is the treatment they received less objectionable because people of other races also suffered such treatment? Or is the goal to make sure no one has to endure such treatment, regardless of demographic?We shouldn’t ignore intersectionality, but we also shouldn’t treat every complaint like an entrant in the discrimination olympics.
Of course you are, Sweetie. Now how ‘bout a cheese sammich for your daddy, huh?
What he fuck is wrong with you? Seriously.
A little of this, a little of that, a whole lot of go fuck yourself, Shoebox. Seriously.
Right back at ya.
So by this logic any woman who ever spoke out in Hollywood before MeToo was ahead of the MeToo movement? By 2009, she’s standing on a lot of shoulders that she’s also not acknowledging in her self importance. But maybe I’m just one of those feminists who don’t digest her well 😛
“I didn’t feel like I was accepted by much of the feminist community,” continues Fox. “Whatever I provoke in them is not something that they can digest very well. And so that comes back on me, as they reject me for those reasons.” I mean I don’t think she’s wrong, and almost certainly due to her carefully maintained appearance. I think this lends her an image of superficiality that runs counter to how feminism is perceived.
As another commenter mentioned, I think it’s the Gone Girl Cool Girl speech vibe. It’s incredible and brave that she spoke out in 2009. But the phrasing of the quote- and hey this could just be AV Club’s skewed excerpt of it- makes it kinda sound like she liked the band before it was cool. By 2009 a lot of brave wonderful people had called out the patriarchal shit in Hollywood. She’s in great company but she’s not the lone crusader here.
Annoying that we now have to suss out writer’s intent when reading stories like this on AVC, because the headline definitely reads that way.
I don’t take her statement as her saying she was calling things out before anyone else, but that she was calling things out before most were willing to listen.
i find it really frustrating that people seem to act like there never was any discussions of sexism in hollywood before #metoo. either way it seems #metoo as a movement lead to film studios and unions making their worker take a harassments seminar at the beginning of their contract. which is fine but that seems to be the only thing that has been done. the problem is that the higher ups who behave like Harvey Weinstein are still running around doing what they do and they behavior being tolerated by others
Well Weinstein was sentenced to 23 years in prison, so he’s off the scene and presumably serves as at least somewhat of a cautionary tale to others.
And Bill Murray, and Frank whatever his name is and a host of others and let’s not forget sex scenes now have to have intimacy coaches. Asia Argentino. All that’s just Hollywood Contrast that with the lack of successes with BLM. It’s a cruel world.
I feel worse for her than other women in the industry because she is a living representation of American beauty standards.
Lots of women are beautiful. It’s not her straight-up looks but her persona. She’s the Cool Girl speech in Gone Girl. Olivia Wilde or Taylor Swift or Zendaya are just as pretty, but completely different presentation.
Boring, tedious ‘news’.
Eh. She was right. She was screwed by Michael Bay and it would have been easier to make her a positive symbol if she didn’t talk about how she loves video games and farts.
That’s all cool, but I want to hear more about the blood rituals.
Can i ask a question?From a straight white dude thats of course oblivious to all this issues and ontologically wrong and inappropriate.Patriarchy expresses itself by objectification of women, right? And megan’s big break role in transformers was pure object. From the camera works on her to her character, it was pure male gazing and pandering to the male audience.This is not her fault of course, and the choice “do this or no work for you” is of course wrong in the system.But how come she has no responsability in it? Is she not a thinking person? She complains that for a while she was only seen as an object, so she couldnt go out of home, but wasnt exactly that what she signed for taking that role?Feminism is also deciding that you can be a cover girl, if you want, but you cannot choose to be a cover girl and pretend that people see you as not that. Cause thats what you yourself choose to be seen as, right? Consequences and all that.
She isn’t wrong, but she *IS* with an absolute scum bag of a human, thus making her look stupid as all fucking hell.
10 years ago I was defending her, but now she comes off as a loon, and I kind of regret defending her in the first place.
I’m dying on the hill that Jennifer’s Body is still not a good movie, despite the weird Star Wars prequel “actually-it’s-good-now” repackaging it’s been getting recently.
I am probably guilty of thinking of her as kind of a bimbo when I saw the trailers for those awful (I assume) Transformers movies. But she was treated unfairly; at the very least the harassment and exploitation complaints were dismissed by a lot of people as just the way things were in Hollywood.When I saw Jennifer’s Body, though, I could see she had some talent, and I thought she did great in her New Girl stint. In that she had a nice deadpan, dismissive comic timing that played especially well off Jake Johnson.And.. these statements of hers don’t seem to me like she’s taking credit for any MeToo stuff, like originating it or anything. She’s right, she complained publicly about her treatment in Hollywood way before hundreds of other women did.