Elle Fanning Says Someone Told Her She Lost Movie Role At 16 Because She Was “Unf**kable”

At 25-years-old, Elle Fanning’s career has never been better. She’s one of Hollywood’s hottest stars, but she’s been in the game a long time, much like her older sister Dakota Fanning.

She started acting when she was a kid, and continued throughout her teens, the most impressionable years of one’s life. During a recent discussion on the Hollywood Reporter’s Comedy Actress Roundtable, Fanning shared a heartbreaking story from when she was 16-years-old.

I’ve never told this story, but I was trying out for a movie. I didn’t get it. I don’t even think they ever made it, but it was a father-daughter road trip comedy. I remember a person saying, ‘Oh, she didn’t get the father-daughter road trip comedy because she’s unf–kable. It’s so disgusting. And I can laugh at it now, like, ‘What a disgusting pig!’

Fanning admits she has had a great team around her, and they would do their best to protect her from the disgusting comments.

She says they had a “filtration system” in place to protect her, but obviously you can’t catch everything.

I was very protected. I have an amazing manager and agent who’ve been with me since I was 8 or 9, same people. You’re growing up in the public eye, and it’s weird. I’ll look at paparazzi photos from when I was 12 and think, ‘Is that a good thing to see such a mirror of yourself at that age?’

The answer is probably no, and that’s why social media is probably doing more harm than good. People are constantly comparing themselves to others. It’s a wild world out there and it feels like everyone is secretly competing with each other.

Don’t ask me how to change it though.