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Chloë Grace Moretz says viral meme about her body turned her into a “recluse”

E Chloe Grace Moretz 09292022
Amazon Studios

(NOTE LANGUAGE) While celebrity memes are often traded as harmless fun, actress Chloë Grace Moretz says one about her body was so “horrific” that she “basically became a recluse.”

In a frank conversation with Hunger, the star of Amazon’s upcoming The Peripheral explained, “… there was one meme that really affected me, of me walking into a hotel with a pizza box in my hand. And this photo got manipulated into a character from Family Guy … and it was one of the most widespread memes at the time.”

Moretz’s long legs, exposed in a miniskirt, were being compared to an animated female character on the show that was revealed to be only a head atop a very long pair of legs.

“Everyone was making fun of my body and I brought it up with someone, and they were like, ‘Oh, shut the f*** up, it’s funny,'” the actress expressed.

“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. It was something so benign as walking into a hotel with leftovers …”

Moretz continued, “I 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. My heart rate would rise and I would hyperventilate.”

She added it took therapy to allow her to face photographers again. “I think that body dysmorphia — which we all deal with in this world — is [exacerbated] by the issues of social media,” she said.

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