‘Offensive’: Ridiculous reason Jennifer Love Hewitt is going viral

The response to Jennifer Love Hewitt stepping out on the red carpet for her new movie has exposed a very grim reality.

OPINION

Some things are shocking, the price of eggs, Karl Stefanovic being rehired by Nine to host Today … but Jennifer Love Hewitt’s appearance isn’t one of them.

The 46-year-old made a rare red carpet appearance for the I Know What You Did Last Summer reboot.

She starred in the original movie, released in 1997, when she was just 18, and it became a mega-hit that has endured in pop culture, hence the reboot.

Bizarrely, the internet has gone wild and is acting shocked over how Love Hewitt looks now compared to when she was a literal teenager.

It’s particularly offensive (I’m offended on her behalf) because it isn’t like she’s been a recluse.

She has worked consistently, most recently, on the long-running show 9-1-1.

Jennifer Love Hewitt when she was 18 years old. Picture: Steve Granitz Archive 1/WireImage

Two decades later and she still looks amazing. Picture: Photo/Chris Pizzello

If we are going to be brutally honest, she’s certainly not an A-lister these days, but she’s still doing very well for herself.

She hasn’t even had to go on Dancing with the Stars and do the ChaCha to stay relevant. So, objectively, she’s killing it.

In the two decades since she starred in I Know What You Did Last Summer, she’s also gone on to have three children and seems to prioritise her private life over publicity.

None of that context seems to matter, though, because the moment Love Hewitt stepped out on the red carpet in a black clingy dress, she set the internet ablaze.

There was an onslaught of people, well more trolls really, arguing that she hasn’t aged well.

People went as far to claim that she looked overweight or just made cruel comments about her appearance, most of them too nasty to reproduce, but “aged like milk” was one phrase used repeatedly.

She’s now a mum of three. Picture: Monica Schipper/Getty Images

It has been two decades since she starred in ‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’. Picture: Robyn Beck / AFP

However, all hope isn’t lost.

Many people have come to her defence, stating the obvious and saying she looks great and that no one looks the same as they did when they were 18.

For most of us, that is a good thing. I was very into wearing little vests and velvet sneakers at 18.

It is nice to see people insert some reason into the conversation about her appearance, but it is still disappointing one woman’s body can spark such conversation.

That’s the way the internet works these days.

Someone gets body-shamed, which then goes viral, and then people’s defence of that person goes viral and suddenly the whole world is dissecting a woman’s weight.

I don’t think we’ve moved that far away from the 2000s ‘skinny is best’ culture.

There’s a slightly more woke hook to the way we discuss women’s bodies, but make no mistake, we’re still picking them apart.

We are still picking apart women’s bodies. Picture: Monica Schipper/Getty Images via AFP

I’m on the right side of the internet. The side where what people are critiquing is how tough we are on women, while also arguing that Love Hewitt is still clearly hot, gorgeous and looks great.

I’m fed up, though.

I’m frustrated that women’s bodies are still such a loud conversation and that Love Hewitt is going viral because she doesn’t look like a teenager anymore.

It is depressing that we still love to act shocked by women if they aren’t a size 8.

The only truly shocking thing about the new photos of Love Hewitt is the way we react to them as a culture.

If the beautiful Jennifer Love Hewitt doesn’t meet beauty standards, I reckon we’re all screwed by that measure.

Originally published as ‘Offensive’: Ridiculous reason Jennifer Love Hewitt is going viral