Chloe Grace Moretz, an actress who became the subject of “horrific” Family Guy memes insulting her figure, said they contributed to body dysmorphia. “I basically became a recluse.”
Moretz said that after attending a red carpet event at 18, she began to experience “such much self-loathing” and confusion, prompting her to question herself, “What am I doing? Who am I? Why am I doing this? Like, what does this mean? ”
“And then came the onslaught of horrific memes that started getting sent to me about my body,” the Carrie actress said. “I’ve actually never really talked about this, but there was one meme that affected me, of me walking into a hotel with a pizza box in my hand.”
Moretz explained that the 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.”
“Everyone was making fun of my body, and I brought it up with someone and they were like, ‘Oh, shut the fuck up, it’s funny,’” she continued.
“And 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,” Moretz lamented.
“It was something so benign as walking into a hotel with leftovers,” the actress told the magazine, adding that “to this day, when I see that meme, it’s something very hard for me to overcome.”
Moretz stated that she felt “kind of sad” after that, adding, “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.”
“And I think that body dysmorphia — which we all deal with in this world — is extrapolated by the issues of social media. It’s a headfuck,” she said.
In response to the Family Guy memes, the Let Me In actress “basically became a recluse.”
“It was great because I got away from the photographers, and I was able to be myself and to have so many experiences that people didn’t photograph, but at the same time, it made me severely anxious when I was photographed,” she said. “My heart rate would rise, and I would hyperventilate.”