Chloë Grace Moretz says that dealing with older men on set when she was a teenager was a mindf**k

Kick-Ass star Chloë Grace Moretz has an extensive resume of television and film roles, but she had to pay her dues and not in a fair and balanced way. In a new interview, she recalls the power struggle she faced as a young actress in a male-dominated industry hell-bent on infantilizing her simply because she was a girl.

 "It was always odd from my first leading role when I was 14 in 'Carrie.' It was always really interesting to see who would be really unhappy with a young woman," she shared. 

Chloë then explained on the November 29th podcast episode of Reign with Josh Smith that she had been working for almost a decade at that point but still would get "pushback" when she tried to voice her opinions. 

"The majority of it was older men for sure who would infantilize me. If I had real things to bring to the table, a lot of the time it would get shot down." 

She then revealed that she learned how to navigate around the power struggle by appearing "very sweet and very kind of back-footed" and tricked the older men into thinking her ideas were theirs. 

"[Having] to advocate to an older man on behalf of your 14, 15, 16-year old self is a really, really crazy kind of mindf***," she said.

Those early experiences in the industry have taught her not only to advocate for herself but also to assert her boundaries in similar scenarios. “I learned a lot of my boundaries in life and what I want in my friendships and what I want in my relationships … I think boundaries are super important,” she shared. “And part of realizing your boundaries and actually enforcing your boundaries is speaking your truth without blame or judgment to people.”

Chloë first appeared on the TV show The Guardian at just eight years old and went on to appear in early aught classics like the 2005 film The Amityville Horror and (500) Days of Summer. Then came Kick-Ass, which saw her holding her own against Aaron Taylor Johnson and Nicolas Cage. She then starred in the remake of Carrie at just 14. 

This isn’t the first time she has spoken about defying the odds and surprising people with her talent at a young age. She first told Teen Vogue in 2013, “When I was auditioning for 'Carrie,' I was told, 'Well, look, you're too young, you're too pretty, you're too accomplished.' I love showing people I can do something that they might think I will never be able to do." 

This revelation also comes on the heels of her admission that she suffered from body dysmorphia and became a recluse after her body was manipulated in an internet viral meme.

“I’ve actually never really talked about this, but there was one meme that really affected me, of me walking into a hotel with a pizza box in my hand,” Chloë told Hunger magazine in September. “And this photo got manipulated into a character from Family Guy with the long legs and the short torso, and it was one of the most widespread memes at the time.”

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

“I basically became a recluse,” she said. “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.”