In the 2000s and 2010s, Elisha Cuthbert was a fixture on men’s magazines (or “lad mags,” as they’re known in the U.K.) like Maxim, Ralph, and FHM. Basically, the kind of publications that you wouldn’t want to read in public. It was not by choice, however.
On an episode of the Broad Ideas podcast, the 24 and Happy Endings star discussed the pressure she faced as a young actress to pose for magazine covers, often while wearing little clothing (the podcast host, The O.C.‘s Rachel Bilson, can probably relate). “I’ve been pretty vocal about my sort of, I don’t want to say disappointment about being in that whole circus. But there was really no option back then, though,” she said. “You were out promoting something. That’s what the [film] studio wanted you to do.”
Cuthbert continued, “We kind of ended up in a space at the time where that was really happening. I mean, Halle Berry was doing it, for God’s sake. Jennifer Aniston was doing it… We were probably too young to be subjected to that, and feeling pressured to do that.” She said the reason studios pushed her to be in those kind of magazines is because they were “viewed by 30 million people. There was no arguing that it was a way to be seen and to promote anything that you were doing at the time.”
You can listen to the podcast below:
Also, watch Happy Endings. What a good show.
(Via ET Online)