Megan Fox explains how having children helped her 'escape' a 'patriarchal, misogynistic' Hollywood
Megan Fox credits having children with helping her “escape” the misogyny she faced in Hollywood.
The Jennifer’s Body actress, who shares her three sons with her estranged husband Brian Austin Green, spoke to The Washington Post about the “horrendous, patriarchal, misogynistic hell that was Hollywood,” which seemed not to care when she expressed frustrations about her treatment.
In a recently resurfaced 2009 interview with Jimmy Kimmel Live!, the actress lamented about being sexualized onscreen when she was just 15. Instead of sympathy, the audience and host reacted with laughter — a “very dark” moment which Fox described as just “a microcosm of my whole life and whole interaction with Hollywood.”
Becoming a mother in 2012 allowed the star, who skyrocketed to fame with the Transformers franchise in 2007, to find renewed purpose — outside of the industry.
“That kind of saved me honestly,” Fox said of becoming a mom. “I needed an escape.”
The New Girl alum, who now stars in the new thriller Till Death, shared that raising her kids has helped her become a more introspective person.
“It’s fertile soil,” she explained. “It’s given me the ground that I needed to grow into something quite special.”
Fox isn’t the first actress to express how motherhood changed her perspective. In a 2020 interview with Romper, Jessica Alba — who founded The Honest Company after becoming a parent — shared that she chose to take a step back from acting after her first child, Honor, was born.
"My motivation was not like, ‘Am I ever going to get hired again?’ Frankly, I was at the top of my career," Alba told the outlet. "I couldn't go back to what I was doing before and be authentic. I just couldn't. I didn't care about it the same way."
While the L.A.'s Finest actress found a second passion in entrepreneurship, Fox told The Washington Post that she’s now ready for her renaissance in Hollywood — which, fortunately, is moving into a more positive direction when it comes to the treatment of women.
“I want to grow into myself as an actor,” Fox said. “I feel like I spent a lot of years not doing that because I sort of checked out from Hollywood. Now I’m ready to grow into myself.”
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