Amanda Seyfried wants Americans to get over their sexual hang-ups, said Emma Jones in The Independent (U.K.). The actress finds it bewildering that her latest movie, Lovelace—in which she plays 1970s porn star Linda Lovelace—earned an R rating for its depictions of sex and nudity, while films filled with gunfights and bloodshed are labeled PG. “Here in America, there is such a stigma stamped to sex,” says Seyfried, 27. “But isn’t it better than violence and movies about killing each other?” Seyfried hasn’t always been so sexually enlightened. “I actually grew up thinking that sex was terrifying and could kill you.” She was particularly disturbed by a pornographic movie she saw at a friend’s house at age 6. “It [featured] a guy dressed in a cop costume. It was, like, so, so wrong. It was 1990 or 1991, and AIDS was rampant. Watching any kind of sexual act when you’re a 6-year-old would make you think you were going to contract AIDS somehow.” Seyfried now takes a more relaxed attitude toward pornography. “Mainstream porn is not that big of a deal,” she says. “Sex is a natural thing that we all do. And for all people, to each their own.”
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Thawing permafrost unleashes toxic legacy of miningUnder the Radar Rising temperatures could release huge levels of toxic materials from sealed-off mines into waterways
-
Mission Impossible – The Final Reckoning: an 'awe-inspiringly bananas' conclusionThe Week Recommends Tom Cruise undertakes 'death-defying' stunt set pieces in this 'dazzlingly ambitious' finale
-
Could medics' misgivings spell the end of the assisted dying bill?Today's Big Question The Royal College of Psychiatrists has identified 'serious concerns' with the landmark bill – and MPs are taking notice
