Lili Reinhart Shares Her Experience with a Male Director’s Comment on Body Image
During the promotion of her female-led film Forbidden Fruits, Lili Reinhart shared her experience of encountering a toxic environment on set with a male director.
The actress, known for her role in Riverdale, opened up during a video discussion with co-stars Victoria Pedretti, Alexandra Shipp, and Lola Tung when asked about a personal acting note.
“Oh, yeah,” Reinhart recalled in a Cosmopolitan video. “When I had a male director come up to me and silently lean over and go, ‘Just suck in your stomach a little bit.’”
Despite her co-stars encouraging her to reveal the director’s name, Reinhart opted to keep it private, teasing, “Tell you later.”
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In Forbidden Fruits, directed by Meredith Alloway, Reinhart plays Apple, the leader of a witchy cult operating from a trendy mall store called Free Eden. Alongside her characters Cherry (Pedretti) and Fig (Shipp), Apple aims to complete their coven by bringing in Pumpkin (Tung), only to uncover unexpected challenges.
Reinhart emphasized the film’s empowering approach to character wardrobe choices, stating, “It was ultimate collaboration, which is so nice, because sometimes that’s really not the case, and it’s like, ‘This is what you’re wearing.’” She described Apple’s style as primarily black and form-fitting, intended not for the male gaze, but for self-empowerment. “It’s to say ‘stay the f*ck away from me’ in a way, which I think is great,” she added.
