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In the past, Bryce Dallas Howard has been open about how she doesn't fit into the mold of a Hollywood leading lady, but now, she insists that she's through discussing her body. In a new interview, she explained that by speaking about situations where she was told to lose weight, the focus has been on how her body looks and not what it can do. So, she's "retired" the discussion, period.
“I've retired talking about my body,” she told People. “My focus is on what my body is doing, what my body is capable of.”
The Jurassic World star noted that she's open about her appearance early on in the audition process and is done changing things for a role. She explained that early on in her career, she'd be gentle about pushing back when she was directed to lose weight, but she's not doing that anymore.
“What I found was best is to just be in communication with folks early in the hiring process,” she says. “What I would say is that, 'If you want to cast me, awesome. But if you think you want to cast me, but 20 pounds less me or 40 pounds less me, that's actually another actor. That's not me, and I'm not going to shame you in this moment about this. We need to have a real conversation here because if you're hiring me, you're hiring me.'"
Todd Owyoung/NBC via Getty Images
She went on to say that she had that conversation for her new movie, Argylle. She was up front with director Matthew Vaughn — and he agreed, saying that he was hiring her for her, not a different version that may have weighed a little less. She noted that it gave her the confidence she needed to perform at a "stronger" level.
“I had that conversation with Matthew. And Matthew, was like, 'Yeah, I'm hiring you.’ I was even stronger because of it," she said. "I was able to do more because of it."
Howard explained that she's accepted that her body changes and that she's not going to diet just to look a certain way.
“Who I am is someone who fluctuates,” she said. “I took some time and it took some work and it took some counsel to really realize that dieting is the enemy, for me at least.” Now, she adds, she's focused on “training my body to accomplish X, Y, or Z for whatever given circumstances I need to bring to life for a movie.”
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