After a “horrific” “Family Guy” meme of her went viral, Chloe Grace Moretz revealed that she had been suffering from body dysmorphic disorder and admitted that she had become a “recluse.”
In an interview with Hunger magazine, the star of “Kick-Ass” revealed that the “joke” that is frequently posted on Twitter is the reason why she has retreated from the public eye.
“There was one meme that really affected me, of me walking into a hotel with a pizza box in my hand,” the 25-year-old said.
Moretz explained that “this photo got manipulated into a character from ‘Family Guy’ with the long legs and the short torso, and it was one of the most widespread memes at the time.”
The photograph, which was taken in 2016, showed the actress wearing shorts, a top, and heels while carrying two pizza boxes. She was also wearing an outfit that featured all three pieces. After that, the paparazzi photograph was edited to make it appear as though her torso had been shrunk and her legs had been stretched out to an unnaturally extreme length. Since the shot was reminiscent of the “Family Guy” character Legs Go All the Way Up Griffin, the cartoon from the show and Moretz’s pap shot were placed side-by-side in a mocking manner. Consequently, an internet meme came into existence.
“Everyone was making fun of my body and I brought it up with someone and they were like, ‘Oh, shut the f – – k up, it’s funny,’ ” the “Carrie” actress noted.
Moretz, however, disclosed that despite the fact that she “actually never really talked about this,” she had struggled with body dysmorphia.
“I just remember sitting there and thinking, ‘My body is being used as a joke and it’s something that I can’t change about who I am, and it is being posted all over Instagram,’ ” she said.
“[I] basically became a recluse,” she said, adding that she just went out to do film projects. “To this day, when I see that meme, it’s something very hard for me to overcome.”
The woman who was born and raised in Georgia added that she enjoyed the “great” feeling of freedom that came along with being left alone so that she could “get away from the photographers, and I was able to be myself.”
“[I was able to] have so many experiences that people didn’t photograph,” she said. “But at the same time, it made me severely anxious when I was photographed. My heart rate would rise and I would hyperventilate.”
Moretz continued by saying that the offensive photo made her feel “kind of sad” and that it prevented her from venturing out into public without experiencing anxiety.
“It took a layer of something that I used to enjoy, which was getting dressed up and going to a carpet and taking a photo, and made me super self-conscious,” she said.
The star of “Brain on Fire” also disclosed that she had participated in a significant amount of psychotherapy due to problems that arose as a direct result of being in the public eye.
“I think that body dysmorphia — which we all deal with in this world — is extrapolated by the issues of social media. It’s a headf – – k,” she said.
Moretz also discussed how the widespread outbreak of the coronavirus and the subsequent lockdown “aided” in her experience of avoiding the public eye.
“To say that these past two years have been transformative is an understatement, to say the least,” Moretz said. “I’m a very different girl than I was. I feel like a woman now.”
