Did a young Megan Fox battle demons? Hear about her turmoil

Hollywood doesn’t have the best track record when it comes to the treatment of beautiful young women, and the treatment of young Megan Fox circa 2009 is no exception. 

If you need proof that her experience is no isolated incident, look no further than the many comparisons to Angelina Jolie, who was treated similarly by the tabloids early in her career. Fox herself wanted to be like Marylin Monroe when she was young, a woman who was treated horribly by people who simultaneously never stopped demanding more of her. 

A young Megan Fox, hot off Transformers releases and multiple magazine covers, was at what some would say was the height of her fame. The paparazzi followed her every move, and reported on everything from her career to more personal details of her life, many of which were based on speculation. 

This would undoubtedly be overwhelming, even for the most attention-seeking of people. For those who don’t remember, Megan Fox sort of owned the late 2000s. The Transformers movies were huge, she was gorgeous, and the rest was history according to the tabloids.

Megan & Brian

A major source of media speculation was her relationship with her former husband Brian Green. Some of you may remember the constant scrutiny that accompanied their engagement years ago. 

You know the drill: a woman is seen with a ring on *that* finger, and the next few months/years of her life are filled with attempts to analyze photos of her left hand, all in an attempt to see whether the ring is present, and thus, the engagement on (forget about taking it off to go to the gym, or have it cleaned, this level of obsession doesn’t lend itself to nuance). 

The two met when Megan Fox was only eighteen, an age where that level of scrutiny had to be the tiniest bit overwhelming. 

Problematic comments

Then, of course, there are her many attention-getting comments, some of which don’t age well. These range from the purely provocative to actual truth bombs, the kind of which, even in the #MeToo era, don’t exactly garner praise when coming from a woman. While many lapped up these statements, many criticized her for being too sexual or provocative – all while talking about how sexy she was, probably. 

Then, lest we forget, there was Michael Bay. The Transformers director, as well as some of the creators and her costars, infamously got together to bash a young Megan Fox after she (even more) infamously likened Bay to Hitler. 

After asking her to lean over cars in skimpy clothes, this group of men were dissatisfied with her and compared her unfavorably to her replacement, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, who apparently knows how to be hot AND quiet, which is preferable to men who like their cars to do the talking. Shia LeBeouf even joined in on this criticism, which- don’t even get me started on the irony of that. 

Megan Fox’s sexuality

Like many young women in Hollywood, the media reduced and defined young Megan Fox by her sexuality. Her beauty & fame made her a hot commodity in the eyes of Hollywood producers, who offered her Generic Hot Girl Roles (yes, this is absolutely a thing) in the aftermath of the Transformers‘ success. 

She did create a classic with Jennifer’s Body, which, unsurprisingly, was written & directed by a woman. The media’s attention to her looks was something of a double-edged sword for young Megan Fox, who, while enjoying the positive attention on her youth and beauty, was also typecast and hypersexualized, even when she wasn’t trying to be. 

None of this is to say that Fox is a perfect human being above criticism. We doubt Fox herself would appreciate that kind of characterization, which would have her faced with just a different set of impossible rules she’d undoubtedly break. 

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That said, all the criticism young, female celebs get in their early days has us screaming “Leave *insert name here* alone!” So, “Leave young Megan Fox alone!” Are you shouting with us? Let us know in the comments!