The “Transformers” star, 37, who was one of the four cover subjects for the sports magazine’s annual swimsuit edition this year, said in a video that she does not “ever see myself the way other people see me.”
“There’s never a point in my life where I loved my body, never, ever,” Fox told the magazine.
She's an actress, she's a mom and she's gracing the cover of the 2023 SI Swimsuit issue! https://t.co/Ze7jPErtdf
— Sports Illustrated Swimsuit (@SI_Swimsuit) May 15, 2023
Body dysmorphia disorder involves a person being preoccupied by thoughts of imagined defects with their appearance, the Los Angeles Times reported. According to the Anxiety & Depression Association of America, the disorder impacts about one in 50 people. The disorder affects both men and women and usually develops during a person’s teen years.
The Cleveland Clinic estimated that the disorder affects 2.4% of adults in the U.S. overall, the Times reported.
“When I was little, that was an obsession I had of, like, that I should look this way, and why I had an awareness of my body that young? I’m not sure, and it definitely wasn’t environmental because I grew up in a very religious environment where bodies weren’t even acknowledged,” Fox said in the video. “The journey of loving myself is going to be never-ending, I think.”
It is not the first time Fox has addressed her struggle with body dysmorphia, “Today” reported. In October 2021 she told British GQ Style that she has “a lot of deep insecurities.”
“We may look at somebody and think, ‘That person’s so beautiful. Their life must be so easy,’” Fox told the website.
Marla W. Deibler, a licensed psychologist and executive director of The Center for Emotional Health of Greater Philadelphia, told USA Today in 2021 that many people with dysmorphia are convinced of their negative self-perceptions despite hearing compliments.
“BDD may be challenging to recognize in oneself, because insight into the inaccuracy of one’s misperception of their body is often poor,” Deibler told the newspaper.
Fox expressed the hope that her Sports Illustrated Swimsuit photos “are beautiful and the frequency that comes off of them are just a healthy, good girl.”
“I hope people take away what I always hope they take away -- that I’m a thoughtful, articulate, deep person,” Fox told the magazine.