In a new interview, Christina Hendricks talks about being bullied before she developed her glorious, pasty rack. Promoting Mad Men, Hendricks says she was bullied in high school for being a goth. She began modelling and realised she ‘could be pretty.’ But with modelling came cries of ‘RIBS ARE FOR FATTIES,’ to which she countered ‘That’s bone, I can’t [lose it]. That’s not going anywhere!’
- On the bada$$ little kids at her school: ‘My school days were pretty unhappy. I had the worst high school experience ever. I went to a very mean school and was bullied like crazy. I was a bit of a goth with purple hair and I was also part of the drama group, so my friends and I were all weird theatre people and everyone just hated us. There was a long corridor with lockers on either side and kids would sit on top of them and spit on you. It was like something out of Lord of the Flies.’
- On feeling different: ‘The girls there had purses and I still had my backpack from Idaho. Moving as a teenager is never easy. So I tried to set myself apart and it ended up with multi-coloured hair. It was how I was expressing myself. I was a goth kid. I dyed my hair about 42 different colours, shaved it at the back and wore black make-up. Kids can be pretty judgmental about people who are different. But instead of breaking down and conforming, I stood firm. That is also probably why I was unhappy. My mother was mortified [I dyed my blonde hair red] and kept telling me how horrible and ugly I looked. Strangers would walk by with a look of shock on their face, so I never felt pretty. I just always felt awkward. If I could go back and tell my 14-year-old self anything it would be, ‘Don’t worry. You’re going to be doing exactly what you want to be doing and those people who are a***holes now are still going to be a***holes in 20 years. So let it go!’’
- On learning to love her looks: After leaving school Christina was persuaded to enter a contest to appear on the cover of Seventeen magazine. Wearing a wig she posed for pictures in a cemetery. And even though she didn’t win the competition, those photographs proved a revelation.’When I got the pictures back my mum and I started crying because I had no idea I could be pretty. I’d always felt awkward. It was the first time I really felt pretty. It just sort of changed my perspective of myself.’
- On modelling at 19 and changing body type: ‘I loved [modelling in New York]. I think it helped that I started a bit older, but I really took advantage of the travel and learning about different cultures.’ At 5ft 8in tall and weighing 11st [154 pounds], Christina is a UK size 14 [about a US size 10] and those famous curves reportedly measure 38DD-32-38. But when she started modelling she was just over eight stone [112 pounds]. She says: ‘I’d done ballet for years and was tiny then, a size 4, so I didn’t have any problems about conforming to a certain body type. As you get older your body changes. I’ve tried to embrace how I look at every stage. When I was working in Italy I was having cappuccinos every day. I’d take my clothes off in front of the mirror and be like, ‘Oh, I look like a woman.’ I felt beautiful and I never tried to lose it ’cos I loved it. I was 20lb lighter than I am now, but modelling agencies used to tell me to lose 10, 15, 20lb. I’d be like ‘That’s bone, I can’t. That’s not going anywhere!’’
- On women wanting boob jobs to look like her: ‘I hope I’m not encouraging that. If there’s anything to be learned from me it’s that I’m learning to celebrate what I was born with, even though it’s sometimes been inconvenient. Having larger breasts has made it harder to shop, but I’ve learned to love it… But now I feel like everyone talks about my bust in public.’
- On being called fat by The New York Times, ‘You don’t put a big girl in a big dress,’ in a picture they stretched to make appear wider: ‘It was rude. It was goofy and it hurt my feelings.’
- On meeting her now-husband: ‘We were both coming out of other relationships and weren’t in that mindset. Then my friends invited him to dinner and he was late. They asked if I wanted to save the seat next to me for Geoffrey and I went: ‘No, no, it’s not like that.’ Of course, as soon as I said it didn’t matter, it suddenly did matter. I think my brain had to catch up with my heart.’
- On the lazy sexy label: ‘It’s very nice. But my husband always says, ‘I told you that years ago!’ And he’s the one who makes me feel sexy.’
