Erika Christensen thinks it’s funny people have such polarizing reactions to her body hair — especially because husband Cole Maness’ opinion is the only one that really matters.
“It’s just hilarious, because it’s like, I haven’t shaved in years, and it’s so funny that it’s still sometimes a thing,” Christensen, 43, exclusively told Us Weekly while discussing her new film After All. “I forget. Like, ‘Oh yeah, right. That’s still a thing, OK, whatever.’ But my husband loves it. If he hadn’t, I probably would never have been there. But he was like, ‘No, it’s great!’”
The Parenthood alum, who has been acting for more than three decades, has no problem expressing who she is and what she believes — something she told Us helped channel her “unapologetically herself” character Ellen in After All — but that self-confidence was something that came “with time” and life experience.
Christensen realized she was part of an industry that put emphasis on physical looks early: when stepping foot on her first movie set. “I started acting when I was 12, and in my first movie they wanted to stuff my bra,” Christensen recalled to Us. “And I mean, we did it, but I was like, ‘Oh, how interesting.’ I immediately was like, ‘Oh, this is the world that I live in. OK.’”
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In her 20s, Christensen said her body got “heavier,” leading to people telling her she needed to “lose weight” or was not “fit enough” for certain roles, altering how she looked at her career. “And I really looked at the different parts of that for me,” she explained. “I was like, ‘OK, that’s that person’s opinion. That’s that director. So if I want to work with that director, then I have to play his game. Now, I’m not playing that game, I’m not working out, so that’s fine.’”
Now, at 43, Christensen said that “the healthiest lens” through which she views herself is her “physical health” — but only on her own terms.
“I’ve always been super interested in fitness, and there have been times where I’m like, ‘Oh yeah, I really do have to get on that. And I miss it, so I gotta get back into it,’” Christensen said. She noted that she looks her “best” when she’s at her “healthiest” — and what that meant for her came from a series of “trial and error.”
She understands that knowing and implementing “the basics” of a healthy lifestyle, including getting more “sleep” and staying “hydrated,” are a must, as is putting a heavy emphasis on her nutrition: “Am I getting enough protein? Am I getting enough minerals?”
While Christensen admits she got much of her love for health and fitness from her mom, she still wonders if her relationship to her body would be the same if she didn’t spend “so much” of her time on camera.
“I’m quite muscular, and it’s very easy for me to get very much more muscular, and it can be too much,” she said. “But maybe if I wasn’t on screen all the time, maybe I’d be like, ‘This is fun! This is what makes me feel good, and this is what I want to do.’ And I would just be jacked. I don’t know.”
At the end of the day, Christensen accepts that she “chose” the life of an actor, and is overall impressed with the progress Hollywood has made in depicting all body types on screen. “We’ve got so many wonderful, a variety of actresses on screen to look at that are incredible and inspiring,” she said. “I think we’ve evolved a lot.”
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Christensen took her self-confidence and used it when connecting to After All character Ellen, who has to pivot her entire — and extremely self-destructive — life to become a caretaker after her mother, Verna (Penelope Ann Miller), suffers a stroke. Christensen explained that Ellen’s self-acceptance despite her flaws is something the two women have in common.
“It’s a weird way to relate, but just growing older and becoming unapologetic about who you are, is such a wonderful thing,” Christensen said. “And in a weird way, this character has that, where she needs to step up and grow up, and she will be forced to by circumstances, but even before that, it’s not like she thinks she’s perfect. She’s well aware that she’s just got stuff going on. She’s kind of like, ‘Yeah, you see what you get.’”
After All is on demand now.
