Laura Dern Says Her ‘Tall Torso’ and Height Cost Her ‘150’ Roles, Talks ‘Shame Around Aging’ as a Woman

Laura Dern recently got candid about dealing with scrutiny over her appearance in Hollywood.

In an interview with The Independent published on Saturday, January 31, the Palm Royale star, 58, who is 5ft 11in, revealed she has a “radically tall torso.” When asked by the outlet if her height resulted in her losing out on roles, the Big Little Lies alum exclaimed, “Oh, 150 times! I was 5ft 11 at 12 years old and acting already, so I was losing parts constantly!”

The Oscar winner — who is the daughter of late actress Diane Ladd and actor Bruce Dern, 89 — went on to address the beauty standards placed on women in the TV and film industry, noting, “Lately, I have never seen more shame around aging and women as public figures, and it’s just so tragic.”

“It’s so much worse now than for my mother’s generation. I remember, when I was a child, hearing her friends talk about the pressure at 70 to get a facelift if you wanted to keep working,” she recalled. “But now I’m hearing my 21-year-old daughter’s friends say, ‘You should get Botox now so that you’re never wrinkled.’”

“So the idea that we’re advancing in empowerment is bats**t,” she added. “And these are societal norms that have been created, most of the time, from people’s fears and insecurities.”

Also in the interview, Dern discussed how she’s continuing to grow and change, following the milestones she’s reached.

“I can recount formative moments in my life – saying at 11 that I’m going to be a professional actor, or falling in love for the first time – and I think I believed there was a stopping point to it all eventually,” she shared. “Like, I’ve achieved those things, so now I need to stick to them. That’s what the world told me. But, actually, we need to let ourselves be ever-evolving.”