Megan Fox said that when she was a young star, she suffered from “a bandwagon of absolute toxicity” that made her doubt her acting abilities.
In a new interview with Refinery29 published on August 24, Fox spoke about the way she was treated as a young actress after she first starred in 2007’s “Transformers.”
Fox said: “When you tell someone that they’re not good at something or that they’re deficient, they can absorb that and it can become their reality, and create a life that reflects that negative s— that you spoke about them!”
Megan Fox starred alongside Shia LaBeouf in “Transformers.” Tim Whitby/Getty Images
Fox said that she caught one of her previous movies (she declined to specify which one) on TV in South Africa whilst shooting her new action movie “Rogue,” and decided to watch it. She had previously been panned by critics for her performance in the movie.
Fox told Refinery29 that she remembered thinking: “This is not that bad. This isn’t Scorsese or a Francis Ford Coppola masterpiece, but it’s not bad. I’m not bad in it.”
Fox said: “I started getting really angry.
“I was like, ‘F— that, why did I live for a decade thinking that I was shit at something when I was actually pretty decent at it?’ That led to this realization that I’d been in a self-imposed prison for so much of my life.”
However, Fox assures that she is not living her life “with fear” anymore: “I’m changing everything that’s not right and moving forward with passion and confidence, and living with excitement for my life.”
ox starred in “Transformers” when she was 21-years-old, and went on to star in the 2009 sequel “Revenge of the Fallen,” as well as a slew of films such as “Jennifer’s Body” (2009) and “Jonah Hex” (2010) that garnered Fox poor reviews. Fox said that she “would have appreciated some support” during this time.
Megan Fox in “Jonah Hex.” Warner Bros. Pictures
“I was just stranded in open water on my own for so long. However, that built up so much strength. To have to go through a challenge like that, the resiliency that I have and the ability to survive really negative things with no support from outside forces made me a better person,” Fox said.
“So, I don’t regret it. Of course, I look back and think — it would have been nice if any of you had seen this at that time that there was a bandwagon of absolute toxicity being spewed at me for years.”
Fox told Refinery29 that she recognizes that both our culture and society are changing, which makes her feel hopeful that her new movie “Rogue” can have “a place to shine and be appreciated.”
“Rogue,” which follows Fox as a mercenary who gets trapped in Africa and eventually hunted by a determined lioness, is out on VOD and in virtual theaters on August 28.