Tori Spelling says growing up “under a microscope” made her develop “low self-confidence”.
Tori Spelling
The 47-year-old actress rose to fame as a teenager when she starred as Donna Martin in ‘Beverly Hills, 90210’, which was produced by her late father Aaron Spelling, and began in 1990 when Tori was just 16.
And Tori has now said being in the spotlight from a young age subjected her to bullying from “internet trolls”, who would mock her for her eye shape.
In a lengthy Instagram post, she wrote: My Dad always said ‘Your eyes are the windows to your soul’. I’ve never forgotten that. Because of that belief my Dad rarely let his actors wear sunglasses in a scene. He believed their eyes conveyed everything. All emotions.
“I used to hate my eyes. When I started 90210 at 16 I was filled with low self confidence. Then, internet trolls ( yep we had them back then too!)called me frog and bug eyed. Being put under a microscope as a young girl in her formative years was hard. I spent years begging makeup artists on my shows and movies to please try to make my eyes look smaller. I would cry over my looks in the makeup trailer chair. (sic)”
Tori eventually began to see the positives to having larger eyes when she landed a role in ‘Scream 2’, where she was praised for being able to show so much expression in a scene in which she re-created the iconic shower scene from ‘Psycho’.
And although Tori now says she “loves” her eyes, she still battles with her self-confidence, and rarely faces “straight on” in photos or videos in an attempt to hide the feature as much as possible.
Condemning those who cyberbully others, Tori added in her post: “Now, my face. Many people ask why I only show one side of my face. Some write hurtful things. Yes, it is a choice. My choice. Because, a vulnerable innocent excited girl showed all of her face at 16 and was eaten alive.
“Choices about my looks were made for me by nameless and faceless accounts. Words can’t be unread. Cyber bullying existed then and it does now worse than ever. So, every time one of you ask me why I don’t look straight on in photos and videos know why I make that choice. Years of hurtful comments that I don’t even want to share to give them energy. Way worse than bug or frog eyes.
“Just remember next time that you go to comment on someone’s account regarding their face or body or choices, you don’t know them. They don’t know you. But, their soul will remember that unkind comment. It’ll be imprinted on them. Our memories can’t remember physical pain but we do remember emotional, verbal, and written pain.”
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