Anya Taylor-Joy offered up a heartbreaking response when asked by a reporter whether she’d ever been ‘self-conscious’ about her eyes.
Now 27, the actor who is known for her role in Netflix’s hit show The Queen’s Gambit, as well as the 2022 film The Menu, first entered the spotlight in her late teens.
She landed roles in titles such as Endeavour and The Witch, before being cast in the 2016 film Split, in which she starred appeared alongside James McAvoy.
That year, Taylor-Joy sat down with W Magazine to discuss her rise to fame, as well as face some comments about her experience.
The actor has striking looks, and during the interview the reporter described her eyes as ‘beautiful’, before adding: “They’re so far apart,”
“When you were a kid, did they make you self conscious?,” they asked.
In response, Taylor-Joy reflected back on harsh comments she’d received about her looks in the past, particularly when bullies could hide behind social media.
Sharing one particularly heartbreaking memory, she explained: “I can definitely remember when Facebook was a thing and I was never aware that my eyes were far apart and then someone tagged me in a picture with a fish and they were like, ‘This is you ’cause your eyes are like here.’”
“And I was really upset about it and I didn’t enjoy it and I kind of stopped looking in mirrors for a very long time.”
The actor went on to admit at the time that she still didn’t ‘really spend a lot of time in front of mirrors’ so she wouldn’t have to ‘deal with [her] face’.
“Unfortunately, y’all do,” she joked.
Sharing further memories from her childhood, Taylor-Joy recalled how the placement of her eyes also impacted her ability to play sports.
She explained: “I will say though that it’s interesting in sports because I became very aware that when I was smaller, my head was a lot more compact and so my eyes really were on both sides of my face.
“It became common knowledge in the playground that if you wanted me to catch a ball, you had to throw it at the side of my head ’cause if you just threw it straight here, I’d just be like, ‘Oh, my God. What? What happened? What’s going on?'”
Since then, however, Taylor-Joy said her face has ‘grown a bit more’.
“I’m kind of growing into myself. I’m a bit less awkward,” she said. “Though I’m still growing a lot. I’m still getting taller – I grew like two inches last year. I don’t really know what to do with all of my limbs.”
Taylor-Joy might not have thought she knew what to do with her limbs, but whatever she did has obviously proved successful as she continues to land huge roles in Hollywood.
