Megan Fox has a good profile in the current issue of InStyle. She’s promoting the horror-drama ‘Til Death and she’s clearly using the promotion to relaunch herself and reintroduce herself to Hollywood. At 35 years old, Megan is really feeling herself and that’s a nice thing to see. Megan was put through the wringer for years, so much so that she largely stepped away from Hollywood (off-and-on) for the better part of something like eight or nine years. She had three children with Brian Austin Green, she worked occasionally and she mostly stayed out of the press. But there is a Megan Fox Renaissance happening. The thesis of this InStyle piece is sort “Meghan was always a badass feminist and evil men destroyed her career.” Which is not the whole truth about it, but Generation TikTok wants to believe it and Megan is happy to let people believe it, so here we are. You can read the full piece here. Some highlights.
Resurrecting her career: “It is a little bit like being a phoenix, like being resurrected from the ashes. I was brought out and stoned and murdered at one point. And then suddenly everybody’s like, ‘Wait a second. We shouldn’t have done that. Let’s bring her back.’” She went on to say that she was never looking for validation from anyone because she knew she had been wronged. “I had to armor up so much inside myself and I had to be so tough to have to process this really crazy-heavy price for what I thought was doing the right thing.”
She retreated after Jennifer’s Body was savaged by critics: “I had to adopt a belief system that only I was going to take care of myself and be there for myself because I was constantly going to be outcast or rejected.”
She had a series of revelations in South Africa, filming her 2020 film Rogue. “I took all my crystals, and I set up my little temple inside my room. I turned on this massive TV, and Jonah Hex was on, which got panned in the press. It was supposed to be terrible… I had never even watched it because the other actors told me not to. I mean, I got crucified for that movie, just brutalized in the reviews. But something came over me, and I said, f–k it, I’m going to be brave and watch it.” When she did, she realized the criticism was probably overblown and a product of the culture that was looking for her to fail.
The breakthrough: “I had this incredible breakthrough, and I realized that I had been living in a self-imposed prison for so long because I let other people tell me who I was or what I wasn’t. I hid because I was hurt. That night, I stayed up and promised myself that I would never live one more day of my life from fear. I came home, and my whole life changed. I got a divorce and I started working more and doing more things. I ended up meeting Colson, and then literally everything exploded from there.”
Being seen out with Colson, aka Machine Gun Kelly: She’s asked “Where are your kids?” every time she’s seen on a red carpet or the back of Baker’s motorcycle. “Do you ask their dad when he’s out? No, because you don’t expect a dad to be with the kids all the time, but I’m supposed to not be seen and be at home with my kids. They have another parent. I have to leave and sometimes I don’t want them photographed and they don’t come with me. This whole year I’ve been very surprised by how archaic some of the mindsets still are in some people.”
The age gap between them: She is 35, and Baker is 31. “You want to talk about patriarchy? The fact that he’s four years younger than me, and people want to act like I’m dating a younger man. He’s 31, and I’m 35. Granted, he’s lived like he’s 19 his whole life, but he isn’t 19. No one would blink twice if George Clooney was dating someone four years younger. Four years? Go f–k yourself. We would have been in high school together. That’s so ridiculous that women are treated that way.”
She has big hopes. “I should probably start manifesting. I won’t lie, I do want to find a Marvel or a DC character that I’ve always wanted to play, and do one of those. People hate on you as an actor for that because it doesn’t get you the big awards. I don’t give a f–k. Give me an MTV award. I don’t need a f–king BAFTA.”
I actually didn’t know/remember that MGK is 31. I also thought he was in his early 20s and that Megan had a good decade on him. But only four years apart and both of them in their 30s? Yeah, no one cares. It is like she said – he seems a lot younger and he acts a lot younger. But whatever. I’m also enjoying the revival of Megan-in-gossip. She seems much more comfortable in her skin, and it’s fun to see her out with MGK and on red carpets and having fun, and I hope we continue to see them out and about. BAG can watch the kids. As for the rest of it… as I’ve said before, Megan was treated poorly by the media, by the critics and by Hollywood. But holy hell, she’s really whitewashing her own history and behavior too.
Photos courtesy of InStyle.
