Jennifer Love Hewitt on Aging as a Woman in Hollywood After 'Unrecognizable' Claims

Celebrity By TooFab Staff |
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9-1-1 star Jennifer Love Hewitt says an innocuous choice to use a filter on social media back in August led to a wild fan response that she was totally unrecognizable and trying to hide "how bad she actually looks now in her 40s."

Jennifer Love Hewitt has been in the spotlight since she was a teenager, with undue attention paid to every aspect of her body and appearance that whole time. Now that she's 44 years old, that attention shifted suddenly over the summer.

The 9-1-1 star suddenly found herself facing a whole slew of claims that she was "unrecognizable" or trying to hide how she really looks when she was just trying to show off a new hairdo on social media.

Speaking on the Inside of You podcast, as noted by E! News, Hewitt said that she didn't really think much beyond the moment when she opted to use a filter on the picture because she had "not a stitch of makeup on."

The I Know What You Did Last Summer alum really thought the focus would be on her hair. Instead...

"A bunch of people were like, 'Jennifer Love Hewitt is unrecognizable,'" Hewitt said. "'She's unrecognizable, so she's gone to filters because she doesn't want us to know how bad she actually looks now in her 40s.'"

As the reaction expanded to speculation that she must have had plastic surgery, or at least a brow lift, Hewitt leaned into what she thought was just craziness by sharing more pictures with even more dramatic filters.

She captioned the hilariously obnoxious snaps -- which you can check out here -- with the message, "I look the same as always. Couldn't look more natural...Filters don't change you that much." She then added on a more serious note, "Let people be filtered or unfiltered. Be good. Be kind. Spread love."

But even this cheeky and playful response to the non-controversy sparked a reaction. "They were like, 'Well, now she's just defending herself and why is she defending?'" said the Party of Five alum. "I realized I can do no right."

She went on to say that while she'd love to be able to say she just doesn't pay any attention to online trolls, "to pretend that we don't is a iie."

Elsewhere in the podcast, the actress talked about some of her most iconic roles, including her popular supernatural series Ghost Whisperer. When asked if she'd ever consider a revival, she said she would totally be down as "it was one of my favorite jobs. Melinda Gordon was hands down one of my favorite characters I've ever played if not my favorite. I would love to do it."

She also said she'd totally be down for a fourth installment of the I Know What You Did Last Summer series. "I loved making those movies," she said. "I'd do it. For sure."

You can check out her full chat with Michael Rosenbaum in the podcast episode below.