Tragic Details About Jennifer Love Hewitt
Jennifer Love Hewitt has had a long and varied career in Hollywood for more than three decades, beginning with her first big role on "Kids, Incorporated" and exploding with "Party of Five," which made her a household name and led to starring roles in teen films such as "I Know What You Did Last Summer" and "Can't Hardly Wait" (and an ill-fated "Party of Five" spinoff). Her movie career slumped after critical failures "The Tuxedo" and "Garfield: The Movie," but Hewitt has since gone on to establish herself as a constant presence on television. She starred in and produced two successful series, "The Ghost Whisperer," and "The Client List," then did a short stint on "Criminal Minds" before landing on "9-1-1" starting in its second season.
Hewitt moved to Hollywood at age 10 after winning a talent show for her singing ability (and by which time she had already toured Europe dancing with the Texas Show Team). Now in her mid-40s and a married (to actor Brian Hallisay) mom of three, the star has gone through many stages in front of the public eye, both personal and professional. And while Hewitt's career choices have not always hit — remember when she was a pop star? — she has matured and evolved without any giant mishaps and with a whole lot of grace. That does not, however, mean that Hewitt has had an easy go of things, as she has weathered many storms. These are the tragedies that Jennifer Love Hewitt has had to face.
She was hypersexualized early and asked gross questions for years
There are many problems with today's media, but the contemporary press is far more conscious about how it discusses female celebrities than ever before. Plus, sexist or offensive coverage that focuses on women's looks and bodies, either to shame them or to hypersexualize them, is generally met with blowback from a good chunk of people. Neither of these things was true when Jennifer Love Hewitt was up-and-coming, and she has spoken out about the poor treatment she received as a young actor. This started before Hewitt even left her teens, and only intensified in her early 20s as more and more people began discussing her body. The star has said that it was watching the documentary "Framing Britney Spears" that made her reflect upon her early experiences with the industry.
The focus on Hewitt's breasts started around the time of "I Know What You Did Last Summer," and it continued for decades, as evidenced by the 2012 interview where Jimmy Kimmel displayed a blown-up photo of the star's cleavage. The problem was at its worst in 2001, when a 22-year-old Hewitt was doing press for her film "Heartbreakers." "At the time that I was going through it, and interviewers were asking what now would be incredibly inappropriate, gross things, it didn't feel that way. I mean, I was in barely any clothing the whole movie," she told Vulture. "For some reason, in my brain, I was able to just go, 'Okay, well, I guess they wouldn't be asking if it was inappropriate,'" she told the outlet.
She has had to deal with constant criticism about her looks, especially her weight
Despite the focus on Jennifer Love Hewitt's physical beauty, she has also fallen victim to tabloid media and gossip sites' horrible tendency to highlight celebrities' perceived physical flaws, such as acne or cellulite. Hewitt was a big target in 2007 after photos of her in the ocean wearing a black bikini were published. Online trolls attacked her relatively minimal weight gain, causing the star to respond on her blog. "What I should be doing is celebrating some of the best days of my life and my engagement to the man of my dreams, instead of having to deal with photographers taking invasive pictures from bad angles," the then-engaged Hewitt wrote (via E! Online). "Like all women out there should, I love my body. To all girls with butts, boobs, hips and a waist, put on a bikini — put it on and stay strong."
Hewitt's bikini photo then landed on the cover of People magazine, alongside the headline "Stop Calling Me Fat!" But while she proclaimed to love her body, the actor slimmed down significantly in the months following the cover. She has also been known to put down her own appearance. For instance, she once apologized for her outfit and hair at a network upfronts event, calling her look a "hot mess" before anyone else could (for the record, she looked perfectly fine). While some people were mad she felt the need to apologize, who can really blame her after her past experiences?
In 2009, she had to get a restraining order against a stalker
Everyday folks do not really like to hear celebrities complain about being famous, as it is sometimes hard to empathize with the downsides when you so deeply envy the plus sides. And sure, fame has a lot of amazing perks — money, influence, free stuff, cool experiences, to name a few — but there are real issues no rational human would want to deal with. The invasive paparazzi are a big one, as is the constant rejection and scrutiny. Perhaps the worst aspect of fame, however, is dealing with unhealthy fans (or non-fans). Many celebrities have had stalkers, but they are most common among young, attractive women. Selena Gomez, Taylor Swift, and Jodie Foster are just some of the celebrities who have had to deal with unstable fans. Jennifer Love Hewitt is another.
In January 2009, Hewitt went to court to get a three-year restraining order against a 62-year-old man named David Nolte. Nolte had reportedly sold his home in Colorado to move closer to the star, who was rightfully fearful after receiving more than 120 letters from the guy between 2005 and 2007. According to court documents quoted in The Daily Record, these letters included "delusional and violent fantasies about having sex with Hewitt, marrying her, impaling her and envisioning her fiance with his head blown off." Hewitt was prompted to finally file for a restraining order after Nolte showed up at her mother's house in December 2008, with flowers and three letters that he left at the gate.
Another stalker — who also targeted a famous director — threatened her life
David Nolte was not Jennifer Love Hewitt's first stalker, as the star had previously to deal with another scary individual earlier in the decade. Though the situations and motives differed, both stalking scenarios included very real threats to Hewitt's life, and both of them involved individuals with clear mental instability. The first stalking scandal gained considerable media attention, as the woman targeting Hewitt also targeted famed director Steven Spielberg — an interesting connection, given that Hewitt and Spielberg are not exactly in the same lane of celebrity. Fascinatingly, Spielberg has also had multiple stalkers, with one, Jonathan Norman, receiving 25 to life for his actions.
Diana Napolis was charged with stalking after targeting Hewitt for three months beginning in July 2002, when she showed up outside a radio station and yelled "murderer" and "killer" at the star. She later e-mailed a direct threat to one of Hewitt's fan sites, writing "I plan on firing a gun at her heart and not missing" (via The Globe and Mail). Spielberg had been targeted by Napolis, a conspiracy theorist, because she believed he and his wife ran a satanic cult. Hewitt was also accused of being in the cult, and of reading Napolis' mind using secret technology implanted by microchip. The troubled woman pled guilty to the stalking charges and received probation — she got credit for serving about a year in jail by her sentencing — with mandatory mental health counseling. She was also ordered to stay away from both Hewitt, Spielberg, and their families for a decade.
Despite a 30+ year career, she gets no respect for her acting chops
People often knock Jennifer Love Hewitt's music career, which we can wrap our heads around even though she released four albums and was a bonafide pop star in Japan (where she released her first album, "Love Songs," at 12 years old). Two more albums went under the radar in America before Hewitt gained a bit of momentum with "How Do I Deal?," a song she recorded for the "I Still Know What You Did Last Summer" soundtrack that reached number 59 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1999. Hewitt gave up music after her next EP "BareNaked" underperformed, despite having a media push. So we understand why people think her singing career was a fail, but Hewitt has also been derided for her acting, which is unfair considering her actual resume.
Stars with no talent do not remain on screens for over three decades, so it is ridiculous that Hewitt was named the worst actress of all time by Rotten Tomatoes in 2011. These scores are, after all, based upon reviews of her films and not her individual performances. And sure, she has made some bad movies, but most of her notable work has been on television anyway. She held her own as an ensemble player on "Party of Five" and "CSI," and turned "Ghost Whisperer," into a five-season hit. She has also done some great dramatic work on "9-1-1," in her memorable guest spot on "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," and in "The Client List," for which she received a Golden Globe nomination in 2011.
She has left social media on numerous occasions because it made her feel bad
Unlike many stars of her generation, Jennifer Love Hewitt was never in the media for feuding with other stars. She has always seemed like a genuinely nice person, but also one without much of a heart for conflict. The internet being the internet, Hewitt has not always been met with kindness online — and because she is sensitive to the negativity, she has had to take breaks from social media numerous times. The most drastic instance of this occurred in 2013, when the actor was pregnant with her first child. She decided to leave Twitter due to receiving threats and "bad vibes" from other users — and that was back when Twitter was actually moderated. "Unfortunately with all the negativity people choose to send on twitter as well as threats to their own well being I'm sad to say Twitter is no longer for me," she wrote in her announcement (via Daily Mail).
Hewitt also left social media in 2021, but only for a temporary detox after having her third child. The star told her Instagram followers that she was focusing on self-care and, because social media caused her to sometimes feel like she is "not enough" in a variety of ways. "I need to reset," she proclaimed (via People). "I need to take my scrolling time and make it active time. Workouts, breathing, manifesting, time with my kids and husband. All of it." Hewitt's break was only a couple of weeks long, and experts actually suggest taking a break from socials every now and then.
She has been open about struggling with anxiety attacks
The fact that Jennifer Love Hewitt chose to intentionally take a break from Instagram when she found it was making her feel bad is a testament to her mental health awareness. And as someone who has suffered from anxiety for a long time, she has had to figure out how to navigate life in a way that minimizes her triggers. In addition to social media breaks, the actor also avoids watching her own television show "9-1-1." Hewitt admitted on "On Air With Ryan Seacrest" that she is unable to watch "9-1-1" because it gives her anxiety, but it isn't watching herself perform that is the issue. "It's a crazy show," she said. "I have a lot of anxiety just in general so for me, I can't watch full episodes of the show. It just makes me really scared."
That interview is not the only time Hewitt has opened up about her anxiety. For instance, she discussed how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted her mental health during an episode of the "Inside With You" podcast, hosted by "Smallville" actor Michael Rosenbaum. After feeling the stress of having to care for her kids and husband amid a global pandemic and a widespread quarantine, Hewitt found herself experiencing anxiety attacks — which prompted her to prioritize self-care once again. Hewitt has even used her anxiety for monetary purposes, once referencing it on Instagram in a post to advertise Comfitude's weighted blankets.
Her beloved mother never got to meet her kids before passing away at 67
Jennifer Love Hewitt made it through the transition from child star to adult actor relatively unscathed in comparison to many of her peers. Like the other kid actors who have managed to avoid the trappings of fame, Hewitt has a strong family connection to thank. Hewitt has an older brother named Todd, who she referred to as her "hero and best friend since day 1" in a 2020 birthday tribute post on Instagram. But really, it was her beloved mother who Hewitt credits with giving her stability and nurturing her career aspirations. She did, after all, move the family to California from Texas so a preteen Hewitt could go on auditions. Patricia also looked out for her daughter in Hollywood, accompanying her on film sets even after she entered adulthood.
Patricia was a speech-language pathologist who raised Hewitt and her brother alone after getting divorced when Hewitt was only six months old. She died of cancer in 2012, at age 67, which means that she never got to see her daughter find love or build her own family. Hewitt has posted numerous tributes to her mom over the years, and on the 10th anniversary of her death, mentioned how her mom knew that starting a family was her greatest desire in life. Four years earlier, she noted the frustration of her mother's absence in her tribute post. "I hate that my kids never met her and my husband only got to dance with her once," she wrote on Facebook in 2018.
Her image was used to sell a weight loss product without her permission, leading to a lawsuit
Being a celebrity has a lot of perks, but one of the downsides is the way that you lose control of your own image. But advertising is a whole different ballpark, as a company cannot legally utilize a person's likeness to hawk a product without their consent. And yet, this happens all the time, which means that lawsuits about the right of publicity are commonplace in Hollywood. Everyone from Scarlett Johansson to George Clooney to Julia Roberts has had to head to court to defend their rights.
Jennifer Love Hewitt may not have as high a profile as a Roberts or a Clooney, but she is famous and likable enough that she has been the face of a number of brands, most notably Neutrogena, but also Old Navy, Palmer's, and others. She was also chosen to represent weight loss product Slim Spray. Unfortunately, it was without the star's approval, and she had to take the company to court to stop the illegal use of her likeness. To make matters worse, the product was an especially awful one — a weight loss oral spray that the investors on "Shark Tank" called a giant scam. Hewitt sued Marz Sprays in 2014 for using a photo of her holding the product in a gifting suite in their ads, which the company argued they legally purchased and should therefore be able to use.
She found it really difficult to tackle postpartum depression on 9-1-1 (but also cathartic)
Postpartum depression is not simply the baby blues; it a serious mental condition that happens within six weeks after having a baby and causes women to experience symptoms that can make it hard to adequately care for themselves or their baby. According to the Cleveland Clinic, it is believed that roughly 1 in 7 women will experience postpartum depression in their lifetime, although numbers are likely underreported due to the stigma that still exists about the illness. Jennifer Love Hewitt has done her part to try to decrease the misconceptions around the issue, acting in a vivid and poignant "9-1-1" story arc that depicted her character's struggles with the illness. Because "9-1-1" is a television show — and a Ryan Murphy one, at that — the storyline was incredibly dramatic, and it saw Hewitt's character Maddie running away from home and leaving her baby out of fear that she would harm her.
Hewitt had already done fantastic work portraying her character's journey with PTSD — she even got to act alongside her husband Brian Hallisay, who played the character's abusive ex-husband that she had to kill in self-defense — but the postpartum depression storyline was a new challenge altogether, because Hewitt herself had given birth only month prior. "I was so very much in my own postpartum journey. Having to play Maddie in the middle of hers, which is a little bit different than mine, but having to do that every day — it was really hard," she told "Entertainment Tonight." "But it was also very cathartic and really interesting."