Aurora Starchild
Elisha Cuthbert’s role as an ex-porn star in The Girl Next Door shot her to success. But it also solidified her as a sex symbol stereotype.
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Elisha Cuthbert and Paris Hilton Talk About Stereotypes
In an interview with Paris Hilton on Hilton’s podcast, This is Paris, Cuthbert was asked about her feelings regarding the pressures placed on her from her early fame.
Paris Hilton, by the way, has been very involved in these discussions lately. She recently came out about being sexually abused in boarding school. And Paris also recently spoke about her own trajectory as a sex symbol of sorts —notably within the “bimbo” and “dumb blonde” stereotypes — while speaking with Meghan Markle on her podcast, Archetypes.
“Because of the attention you got from The Girl Next Door plus the media culture that we grew up in, you were seen as a sex symbol. What kind of pressure did that put on your career early on?” asked Paris.
“I’m glad you put it that way, because it wasn’t, you know… I didn’t see a pressure on myself. I just felt like, ‘oh, now I’ve got… I’m stereotyped into this… I’m like, pigeonholed now, into this one… For me, developing Danielle and that character in The Girl Next Door felt like such an exploration. And it felt like such a deep dive… And I think, because of the culture at that time was very much in unison with sort of… that character, it sort of got lost in the shuffle. Because it didn’t feel that extraordinary. And for me, it was a huge stretch. Because, you know me. I’m not like. You’ve seen me sometimes. I’m not even full-glam every day. I’m like, super chill. Like, this is like a lot for me.
Elisha Cuthbert Can’t Seem to Escape the Sex Symbol Thing
“So, for me it was like, one, I didn’t feel understood,” Cuthbert told Paris. “Because I felt like I had developed that character. I didn’t come to the movie like that. That was my development for the character. So, I felt like that got lost.
“And then after that, there was like this pressure of like, maybe the fashion world, or whatever, saw me as a certain thing. When really it was a character, and it took a really long time to kind of…. I mean, maybe there’s still people that you know…”
Cuthbert continued to mention how sometimes she’ll come across bios of herself that mention her sex symbol status.
“I kind of hate the Google situation…Oh, FHM’s top 100…it ends up getting in the bio somehow. And you’re just like, ‘what does that even mean?’ And it’s not really a reflection of, you know, me as an artist.”
It’s true. If you look up Elisha Cuthbert’s IMDb biography, you’ll see exactly what she’s talking about. Right there, at the top, it says, “She was voted the sexiest actress in the world in 2015 by the magazine Glam’Mag. In 2013, she was elected the most ‘Beautiful woman of American TV.’
“Cuthbert is considered a sex symbol, and she has often been cited as one of the ‘sexiest’ women and as one of the ‘most beautiful’ in the world.”
A little further down, her bio finishes with more of the same.
“In 2011, Cuthbert was named one of ‘The 100 Hottest Women of the 2000s’, and also entered the list of ‘The 25 Hottest Blonde Bombshell Actresses’ by Complex Magazine. In 2013 GQ Magazine listed her among ‘The 100 Hottest Women of the 21st Century.’”
Truly, it must be flattering to be considered so beautiful, but also a little annoying. As Cuthbert mentioned, what does it even mean? For an artist who is concerned with character development, being hot isn’t usually a top priority. It’s a nice-to-have, but it’s not a sign of good acting. Cuthbert has 42 acting credits to her name from 1997 up until now, and obviously she’s not just trying to be hot. She’s trying to be an actress.
Cuthbert’s Embraced Being Sexy, But Seems Annoyed That People Don’t Want Her to Age
However, Cuthbert also acknowledged that she’s embraced the stereotype to some extent.
“On the flip side of it… if that’s what they see, and they liked that too, I’m okay with it. I mean, for a long time, I had a lot of like, disdain for it. And wanted to like, push against it. But I kept getting like, thrown back into that, that sort of stereotype.
“But now I’ve learned to sort of embrace it. And go, you know, it struck a chord with a lot of people. But I certainly don’t try to keep up with it. I would go crazy if I felt like I had to like, everywhere I showed up, look like her. And that’s what I mean. For me, it’s not even me, it’s like, that character. So, it seems, like, so strange.
“And I mean, to live up to a character I played when I was 21… For me, sometimes I’ll be on social media, and I’ll see a comment of like, ‘Oh, why are you so old now?’”
For the record, Cuthbert is almost 40. She’s saying that people are asking why she doesn’t still look the way she did on a movie almost 20 years ago.
“There’s a weird feeling of like, people don’t want to see, you know, actors or musicians or people like age in any way.”
Having Kids Makes the “Sex Symbol” Thing a Little Awkward
Elisha Cuthbert echoed these sentiments this past August while interviewed on the Broad Ideas with Rachel Bilson podcast.
“It’s not like I won an Olympic medal. It was just some list some random magazine decided to create,” she said of a 2013 Maxim shoot. “When someone reads my bio, those things come up. They actually don’t mean anything in regard to me as a person or my career.”
She also mentioned that other actresses, like Halle Berry and Jennifer Aniston, were doing the same thing.
“We were probably too young to be subjected to that,” she said, “and feeling pressured to do that.”
Cuthbert also admitted that the sex symbol thing has put her in a bit of an awkward position now that she’s a mom to an almost 5-year-old and a 9-month-old.
“This is what I have to explain to my kids,” she said, mentioning how sexy photos still circulate on the internet. “This weird, bizarre outfit and hair extensions. And you know what’s so crazy? I don’t even know how much of those pictures are even accurate as far as, like, airbrushing.” She also added that she was also much younger then. “I didn’t look bad, but did I look that? I don’t even know if the fantasy’s real.”
