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Emily Atack didn’t know whether she was “beautiful or ugly” after constant comments on her appearance left her feeling “confused” and depressed.
The 34-year-old actor starred as Charlotte “Big Jugs” Hinchcliffe in The Inbetweeners from 2008 to 2010. Atack is now starring as Sarah Stratton in the forthcoming adaptation of Jilly Cooper’s book Rivals. Her character lures a Tory MP out of his marriage and then proceeds to cheat on him constantly.
Throughout the 2010s, she graced the cover of many men’s magazines including FHM and Loaded. However, the success came with both praise and backlash, she told The Guardian.
”The word I always land on is ‘confused’. When it came to press and headlines, I was either ‘flaunting my ample assets’, or they’d deliberately try to get the most hideous photo of me with chins, bending over, so they’d say, ‘Pals fear for Emily as she gains weight,’” she said.
“But then, on the other hand, I was being put on the front cover of FHM as the sexiest woman in Britain. I just didn’t get it.
“I didn’t know if I was really beautiful or really ugly.
“The thing I was seeing in the mirror started to disintegrate and change. I’d obviously been seeing something different to everybody else. I just didn’t understand.”
The actor blamed disgruntled men triggered by her comfort with her appearance.
“It’s anger towards women. Men are so angry with sexy women. It’s like, ‘We’ll give you a little bit of power, but not too much. Here, you look nice on this front cover, but also, you’re a fat, ugly pig.’”
Throughout her career Atack says she has found herself “playing very similar roles” which she describes as “the bit of totty.” She added that she enjoyed embracing her body, youth, and sexuality, but feels ignorant of the “narrative” that was being created, in hindsight.
“I didn’t have a clue,” she continued. “I was told, ‘You’ve got a photoshoot today’ and it would be for Loaded magazine, or for FHM to promote series two of The Inbetweeners. So I was all, ‘Yep, clothes off, bikini on. Whatever.’ Genuinely, I had no problems with that – I enjoyed those shoots.
“I was celebrating my youth and my sexuality in beautiful locations, wearing gorgeous underwear, with lovely crews of people and photographers, and I f**king loved it. It was great. I naively didn’t think what narrative was being painted for me.”
