Jude Law Resents Being Objectified for His Looks, Suggests He Got It Worse Than Women
It's no secret that Jude Law was cast as an object of desire early in his career, and now he's reflecting on how the focus on his good looks was a negative experience for him.
In a new interview with Variety, Law talks about his iconic role as Dickie in 1999's The Talented Mr. Ripley opposite Matt Damon, which he almost turned down because he didn't want to be typecast as a pretty party boy. The role made him a star and also had fans hyper-fixated on his looks. He was People magazine's Sexiest Man Alive in 2004, and the outlet brings up when he was visibly uncomfortable during an interview with Ellen DeGeneres where she brought up that men were getting plastic surgery to copy his lips.
"Interestingly, I was talking about this to a friend," Law says. "He made a good point. He said, 'If you were a woman, people would have been told off for objectifying you.' I think it frustrated me because I was this young guy desperately keen to have an acting career and for people to talk about that, as opposed to what I looked like."
Law also had to deal with intense paparazzi and tabloids prying into his personal life -- all while becoming a father for the first time to his son Rafferty with ex-wife Sadie Frost. When News of the World hacked his phone between 2003 and 2006, he was awarded $20,000.
"Going to a premiere or promoting something was part of the job. But being invaded was something that always made me bristle," he says. "So, sadly, I always associated the experience with that discomfort. I really don't want to go over old ground, but there was a chapter afterwards, as things got more and more intense in that way."
"It was a crazy experience to go through," Law adds. "A really upsetting experience, because it forces you to suspect and doubt people around you. You have to circle your wagons and protect your family and protect yourself. But what doesn't kill you nourishes you, right?"
