‘Princess Diaries’ star, Heather Matarazzo revealed that the producer called her ‘unfuckable’.
Heather Matarazzo became famous nearly over night in the mid-90s when she appeared as the leading actor in the 1995 feature film ‘Welcome to the Dollhouse’. At that time she was only 13-years-old, but she had been acting since she was six years old. Matarazzo basically grew up in the very difficult, and harsh film industry.
But despite the obstacles, and having over 20 acting credits to her name, she was told by a director that she had been dropped from a role that she had been attached to for over two years because producers called her “not f*ckable”.
Many people would crumble after hearing such devastating news but not Matarazzo. What the actress decided to do afterwards is inspiring. Matarazzo described all the humiliation and pain she experienced after feeling connected to and preparing for a role after two years just to be taken away because a producer found her “fuckable.”
Matarazzo would later take a smaller role in the movie she had originally been chosen to star in, simply because she was so connected the project and couldn’t let the producers take everything away from here.
Matarazzo says that she lost sense of herself, and started to believe the words that the producer had used to describe her. She even starting believing she was “ugly,” “loser,” and “disgusting.”
Matarazzo would then also only audition for girls that were “plain Janes” or “very large women.”
Those harsh words that had been used to justify firing her from her lead role would be something that she held on to for several years later. But, after several years, Matarazzo had a life-altering moment. She applied for “plain Janes” or “very large women” brcause that’s how people saw her, but the only reason people saw her that way was because that was how she saw herself. After having this realization she began to accept herself, her looks and her body. Years later, she began to get more and more roles for chacters she says were “beautiful, confident, secure, they were complex, they had bite, they had depth.”
She took something that was so traumatic and turned it into something positive. Recently, Matarazzo has been a major proponent for equual rights for the LGBTQ community, as well as a supporter for women’s rights in the industry.
Recently she stood up for actor Rose McGowan, who was dropped by her agents after posting a sexist casting call, standing alongside a small but, powerful group of women who also believed McGowan was wronged, women such as Lexi Alexander and Jessica Chastain.
In an industry where everything is criticized, critiqued, and construed, Matarazzo took what a producer said about a teenager and became a leader changing the industry in order to make sure no woman is made to feel like that again.
Source: Mattarazzo
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