Olivia Munn has hit out at "warped" Hollywood ideals.
Olivia Munn
The 41-year-old actress recalled how she was part of a "losing game" of trying to be thinner in order to look more appealing when she first started auditioning in Los Angeles but after accepting she couldn't "whittle down and be waif-thin to fit the look at the time", she decided to simply wear baggier clothes - and the offers began to pour in.
She said: "I started noticing how thin people were and I kept trying to figure out how they did it, and that was a losing game. It was the first time I heard about the Atkins diet and I wanted to know more - I wanted to try anything that would make me castable - but I honestly didn’t know what to do."
Recalling how she gave up on diets and went to J. Crew instead, she added to NewBeauty magazine: “I bought a pair of jeans that were two sizes too big, and I got them long. Then, I went to Urban Outfitters, and they had these moccasin wedges that looked flat from the front, but when you looked in the back, they were a wedge.
"I cut the insides of the jeans so they flared over the moccasins just enough, so it hid the wedge.
"For my top, I bought a Lynyrd Skynyrd T-shirt that was designed to look vintage at Target—one of those new ones that was all beat up. I tied it around my back, did a little knot, and you could really see the definition of how large the pants were on me.
"I was literally wearing an outfit that was two sizes too big, but it looked like I had lost weight. It looked like I was thinner than I was.
“Then, I started booking, which just shows how warped the standards were.”
The 'Predator' actress has always been used to feeling like "the new girl" but when she first moved to Los Angeles, she struggled to grasp the casual sense of style because she "cared so much".
She recalled: “I grew up in a military family, so I’m very much used to always being the new girl, feeling like I’m on the outs and figuring out a way to find a place for myself. But Hollywood is a whole other ballgame.
“When I moved here, I’d go to auditions and I had it in my head that I was supposed to be dressed in my Sunday best, like I was going to church.
"There I would be, in heels and a skirt, while everyone else was wearing flats, skinny jeans and a tank top. Their attitude was very much, ‘Oh, I just showed up here. What’s up? Are you guys here for me?’ They were all so cool, and I just cared so much…I cared so, so much.”
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