โI donโt ever see myself the way other people see me.โ
On Monday, Megan Fox sat down with Sports Illustrated for a wide-ranging conversation.
The 37-year-old actor is one of 28 celebrities โ such as Martha Stewart and Kim Petras โ starring on the cover of this yearโs publication.
Speaking about the exciting opportunity with the outlet, Megan candidly admitted that despite her excitement about the shoot, she was super nervous.
โShooting Sports Illustrated Swimsuit is definitely a lot of pressure,โ she said, before later adding, โI have a vision in my head that Iโm trying to achieveโฆ I hope that the pHเนฯos are beautiful.โ
Megan later went on to discuss her struggle with body dysmorphia, which is an anxiety disorder related to body image.
โI have body dysmorphia. I donโt ever see myself the way other people see me,โ she revealed.
โThereโs never a point in my life where I loved my body. Never, ever,โ she said. โWhen I was little, that was an obsession I had of like, โBut I should look this way.โโ
Megan went on to note that she has no idea where her acute awareness of her body stemmed from, explaining that she was raised in a Pentecostal Christian environment where physical appearances werenโt โacknowledged.โ
โWhy I had an awareness of my body that young, Iโm not sure,โ she said. โIt definitely wasnโt environmental because I grew up in a very religious environment where bodies werenโt even acknowledged.โ
At a different point in the interview, Megan said, โI remember being little, I would go in the bathroom and pull my shirt up and check to see if I had boobs yet.โ
โThe journey of loving myself is going to be never-ending, I think,โ she added.
Elsewhere during the interview, Megan opened up about being โridiculedโ and vilified back in the late 2000s after she spoke out against film director Michael Bay.
In 2009, Megan โ whoโd starred in two Transformers movies at this point โ found herself at the center of public scrutiny after describing Michael as a โnightmare to work withโ and comparing him to Adolf Hitler during an interview.
โGod, I really wish I could go loose on this one,โ she said when asked what her least favorite things about working with him were. โHeโs like Napoleon, and he wants to create this insane, infamous mad man reputation. He wants to be like Hitler on his sets, and he is.โ
โHeโs a nightmare to work for, but when you get him away from set, and heโs not in director mode, I kind of really enjoy his personality because heโs so awkward, so hopelessly awkward,โ she added. โHe has no social skills at all. And itโs endearing to watch him. Heโs vulnerable and fragile in real life and then on set heโs a tyrant.โ
The interview sparked a wave of backlash as soon as it was published, and ultimately led to Megan being fired from the Transformers franchise and replaced by Rosie Huntington-Whiteley.
Shortly afterwards, Megan went on to directly call Michael out for Sัxualizing her when she was underage in the 2003 film Bad Boys II.
Sitting down on Jimmy Kimmel Live! for the now-infamous interview, Megan recalled, โI had just turned 15, and I was an extra in Bad Boys II. They were shooting this club scene, and they brought me in โ and I was wearing a Stars and Stripes สฮนฮบฮนษดฮน and a red cowboy hat and six inch heels.โ
Megan added, โThatโs sort of a microcosm of how Bayโs mind works.โ Jimmy replied, โWell, thatโs really a microcosm of how all of our minds work. Some of us have the decency to repress those thoughts and pretend that they donโt exist.โ