Emma Thompson Has a Unique Way of Looking at Body-Acceptance: ‘You Don’t Have To Love' Your Body

Delilah Gray
·2 min read


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Emma Thompson wants her newest role in Good Luck to You, Leo Grande to be used as a sign to change how we talk about pleasure, body acceptance, and self-love. With the saucy role, she made the revelation that accepting and loving your bodies don’t have to be the same thing.

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In the newest issue of PEOPLE, Thompson opened up about her powerful, nerve-wracking nude scene in her new Hulu movie. “Whilst I’ve never really accepted my own body as anything to write home about, and I’ve always thought it was not much, not really at all, attractive, nonetheless, I have lived in it and experienced pleasure in it,” she said. “I think the more we can accept our bodies — and not love them, you don’t have to love them — but you do have to accept them in order to experience anything inside them.”

Thompson has been transparent lately about her body image struggles, giving fans her insight while being under the spotlight for decades. She previously said,  “I don’t look in the mirror and if I do, I look away. We’re brainwashed from very early on to not see something that we can’t accept.”

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Body acceptance isn’t the only thing Thompson is working to open a discussion on: she’s ready to talk about the orgasm gap. Per Forbes, the orgasm gap refers to the social instance where there’s a noticeable disparity between cisgender men and women, seeing that cisgender women don’t have nearly as many orgasms as cisgender men. In the same interview with PEOPLE, Thompson dropped another truth bomb: “I think women’s pleasure has never been at the top of anyone’s agenda.”

These social revelations have stemmed from her powerful role in Good Luck to You, Leo Grande, where she stars as a widow who hires a sex worker on a night of sex, adventure, and self-discovery. It’s currently streaming on Hulu.

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

Launch Gallery: Powerful Quotes to Inspire Healthy Attitudes About Food & Body Image

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