Chloë Grace Moretz has called for people to be compassionate after she opened up about how a meme that emerged from Family Guy affected her emotionally.
The Carrie star said she hopes fans of the show and the meme it created will understand how it made her feel after sharing her thoughts about it in an interview last month.
Moretz, 25, admitted it made her a ‘recluse’.
While promoting her new series The Peripheral on the red carpet at its premiere event on Tuesday, Moretz said ‘compassion’ is a key thing for humanity and people should be aware of the words they share online.
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“I think the big thing is that compassion is a really key thing in humanity and just being kind with the words that you say with one another, the things you say online,” she shared with Entertainment Tonight.
“I think compassion is key and I hope the world can have a little more of that.”
It all started when people online edited a paparazzi photo of the Kick-Ass star holding pizza boxes to make her legs look extremely long and her midsection short.
Fans of the long-running animated series Family Guy soon drew comparisons between the actor and the character Legs Go All the Way Up Griffin, Peter Griffin’s great aunt, who makes her debut in the season 10 episode “Amish Guy”.
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Moretz discussed the ‘onslaught of horrific memes’ she has had on the internet in an interview with Hunger Magazine in September.
Speaking of the picture specifically, Moretz said: "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."
Moretz explained how she felt when her body became subject to scrutiny and ridicule online.
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"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.’
"And I just remember sitting there and thinking, my body is being used as a joke and it’s something that I can’t change about who I am, and it is being posted all over Instagram.
"It was something so benign as walking into a hotel with leftovers. And to this day, when I see that meme, it’s something very hard for me to overcome," Moretz said.
Moretz developed body dysmorphia, which meant she no longer enjoyed doing the things she used to do like getting dressed up because it would make her feel ‘self-conscious’.
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"After that, I was kind of sad. It took a layer of something that I used to enjoy, which was getting dressed up and going to a carpet and taking a photo, and made me super self-conscious,” she reflected.
"And I think that body dysmorphia – which we all deal with in this world – is extrapolated by the issues of social media. It’s a headf**k."
The Peripheral is currently set for release on Amazon Prime on 21 October.
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If you have been affected by the contents of this article, contact Mind on 0300 123 3393 between 9am to 6pm Monday to Friday (except bank holidays). Alternatively, you can visit their website here
Topics: Celebrity, News, Mental Health