Megan Fox gets candid about 'misogynistic' Hollywood beginnings: 'I actually got ridiculed'

Megan Fox is speaking out about the mental toll her early Hollywood experiences took on her, which caused her to step away from the limelight.

Fox, 35, started her acting career as early as 15, appearing in films like "Holiday in the Sun" and "Bad Boys II." However, Fox said many of her early 2000s acting experiences were tainted with negativity as she was objectified and sexualized at a young age.

"I think that I was ahead of the #MeToo movement by almost a decade,” Fox said in the cover story, published Tuesday, for Glamour UK's May issue. “I was always speaking out against some of the abusive, misogynistic, patriarchal things that were going on in Hollywood back in 2008 and 2009, way before people were ready to embrace that or tolerate it. And I actually got ridiculed for doing it." 

Between 2007 and 2017, Fox's career blew up with starring roles in "Transformers," "Jennifer's Body" and "Teenage Ninja Mutant Turtles," which put her in the spotlight and as a target for criticism. The attention caused her to retreat in hopes of wanting to work on something "legitimate," according to her interview. 

Fox talks about many of her life experiences in the interview, including her early career, her "psychological breakdown," and how she tries to protect her children from social media.

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Megan Fox considers her early fame 'a type of trauma'

In the past, Fox has spoken out about being cast as an extra in Michael Bay's "Bad Boys II." During a 2009 interview with Jimmy Kimmel, she described being asked by Bay to dance sexually in a bikini under a waterfall as an alternative to holding a drink due to her being underaged.

When the interview resurfaced in 2020, Fox took to social media to clarify that in her "direct experiences with Michael and Steven [Spielberg]" she "was never assaulted or preyed upon in what I felt was a sexual manner."

Fox said in the Glamour interview that her earlier fame didn't allow her "to be a human, because I was a topic of conversation and gossip and punch lines." 

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“I don’t know if the psychological breakdown was strictly related to being objectified, it was more related to just being dehumanized and criticized and judged constantly,” Fox said, which led to her take taking a step back from social media as well.

Megan Fox says social media is 'evil' 

Fox also shared she doesn't post on social media herself but rather has someone do it for her.

"I have social media, but I don’t personally use it. I have somebody who posts for me and I decide what I want to say,” she told the outlet. "But I think it’s sinister. I think it’s evil.”

The actress' opinion on social media partially stems from the role it plays in bullying.

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"When so many people around the world are thinking about you or have negative thoughts or intentions towards you, that energy permeates and penetrates me. I don’t have boundaries and walls for that. I’m still human. I am still fragile in that way, I can feel. And that was part of the struggle," she said.

Why Megan Fox tries to keep her children out of the limelight

Fox's aversion to social media also transcends to her family. The actress notedhow cruel people can be as a reason why she chooses to keep her family life private.

"I can’t control the way other people react to my children. I can’t control the things that other children – that they go to school with – have been taught and then repeat to them,” she said. "I’m so proud of my kids. Noah is an unbelievable pianist. He can learn Mozart’s concerto in an hour. I want people to see that, but I also don’t want the world to have access to this gentle soul and say all the things that we all know they’re going to say."

Fox and ex-husband Brian Austin Green share three children: Noah, 9; Bodhi, 8; and Journey, 5.

Fox has previously spoken about Noah being interested in fashion and wearing dresses at times, though even with sending him to a "progressive" school in California, his fashion choices can cause some commotion.

"He still has little boys going like 'boys don't wear dresses' or 'boys don't wear pink,' " she shared during a 2019 episode of "The Talk." "I'm trying to teach him to be confident no matter what anyone says."

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In her Glamour interview, Fox said she knew early on she wanted to protect her kids and limit their time on the internet. 

"So far, we’ve done a really good job and we maintain their innocence in a lot of ways, but I know I can’t protect them forever, though I do have a child that suffers. So I have a lot of worries about that, because I just wish that humanity was not like this. Although my kid is so brave and my child is so brave and I know that they’ve chosen this journey for a reason. It’s just hard as a mom," she said.