Bryce Dallas Howard Is Flipping the Hollywood Script on Conversations About Her Body

Bryce Dallas Howard is putting up a healthy boundary that could change the entertainment industry if other performers follow in her footsteps. She isn’t letting any Hollywood studio or director dictate what her body is going to look like if she’s working for them. Her body is her body — they are hiring her for her acting talents.

What she’s telling everyone is that the topic of losing or gaining weight for a role is no longer an option. “I’ve retired talking about my body,” the 42-year-old actress told People. “My focus is on what my body is doing, what my body is capable of.” Howard has found a firm way to approach and shut down the topic all at once — and we love her confident mindset.

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“What I found was best is to just be in communication with folks early in the hiring process,” she explained. “What I would say is that ‘If you want to cast me, awesome. But if you think you want to cast me, but 20 pounds less me or 40 pounds less me, that’s actually another actor. That’s not me, and I’m not going to shame you in this moment about this. We need to have a real conversation here because if you’re hiring me, you’re hiring me.'”

Howard was vocal about the issues that arose on the set of Jurassic World: Dominion, and she was grateful that director Colin Trevorrow had her back when studio executives voiced their opinion about her body size. “What being in this third film allowed, how do I say this? How do I say this? How do I say this? I’ve been asked to not use my natural body in cinema,” She told Metro UK in 2022. “On the third movie, it was actually because there were so many women cast, it was something that Colin felt very strongly about in terms of protecting me because the conversation came up again, ‘We need to ask Bryce to lose weight.’” Howard appreciated that she could do the stunts at “her maximum strength” because her director defended her.

She also found that support on the set of Argylle because director Matthew Vaughn listened to Howard’s message and confirmed that he was hiring her for her talent. She admitted that “it took some work, and it took some counsel” to realize that dieting wasn’t a healthy option for her. And now, the wisdom she learned is creating a better place for anyone who doesn’t want to have a conversation about their bodies to secure a job in Hollywood.

Before you go, click here for more celebrities who’ve spoken out about being body-shamed.

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