Chlo Grace Moretz told Hunger magazine that she became a “recluse” after “horrific” memes on social media, like one that compared her body to a “Family Guy” character, made her body dysmorphia worse.
A photographer took a picture of Moretz carrying a pizza box into a hotel. From that picture, a meme went viral that made fun of the actor’s body.
“Then I started getting sent a bunch of horrible memes about my body,” Moretz said. “I haven’t really talked about this much, but there was a meme of me walking into a hotel with a pizza box in my hand that really got to me.
🔔 | Chloe Grace Moretz responds to becoming a meme on Family Guy pic.twitter.com/2YFae9mWby
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This photo was changed to look like a “Family Guy” character with long legs and a short torso, and it became one of the most popular memes at the time.
When I mentioned that people had been making fun of my body, they responded with, “Oh, shut the fuck up, it’s funny.” And so on, Moretz kept talking.
And I remember sitting there thinking, people are making fun of my body, which is an inalienable part of my identity and posting it all over Instagram.
What happened was as innocuous as checking into a motel with some food that had gone stale. Even now, whenever I come across that meme, I have a hard time getting over it.
For Moretz, the virality of the meme “removed a layer of something that I used to like, which was getting dressed up and going to a carpet and taking a photo, and made me incredibly self-conscious,” she said.
And I think the problems of social media are exacerbating the bodily dysmorphia that we all face in this world. The phrase “it’s a headfuck” comes to mind.
Anxiety and depression are common symptoms of body dysmorphic disorder, a mental illness in which sufferers fixate on perceived imperfections in their physical appearance that are often invisible to others.
According to Moretz, “I basically became a recluse” as a result of the online memes mocking her appearance. As much as I appreciated the time I spent away from the cameras and the freedom to be myself, I suffered from extreme anxiety whenever I was the subject of a photograph. Intense anxiety caused my heart rate to increase and for me to hyperventilate.
After appearing in “Mother/Android,” an original film on Hulu, Moretz will provide her voice to the upcoming animated film “Nimona,” available on Netflix.