Florence Pugh is opening up about the pressure she has faced to change her look for the entertainment industry.
In a recent interview with The Telegraph, the Don't Worry Darling actress reflects on the early days of her career, starting from her breakout role in 2014's The Falling at age 17. This debut led Pugh to land a role in the pilot of a show called Studio City. At 19, she moved from England to LA to work on the series, which was ultimately not picked up.
"I felt very lucky and grateful, and couldn’t believe that I had got this top-of-the-game job," the 26-year-old remembers feeling at the time, adding that it felt like a "complete right-place-right-time fluke." However, Pugh's sentiment changed once industry executives began pushing her to alter her appearance.
"All the things that they were trying to change about me — whether it was my weight, my look, the shape of my face, the shape of my eyebrows — that was so not what I wanted to do, or the industry I wanted to work in," Pugh told the publication. "I’d thought the film business would be like The Falling, but actually, this was what the top of the game looked like, and I felt I’d made a massive mistake."
Nonetheless, Pugh says she was able to resist this pressure, and shortly after landed an audition for Lady Macbeth, which led to an experience that "made [her] fall back in love with cinema."
Looking back on it all, she said, "I think it’s far too easy for people in this industry to push you left and right. And I was lucky enough to discover when I was 19 what kind of a performer I wanted to be."
Pugh now stars in Netflix's upcoming period piece drama called The Wonder, which will hit limited theaters on November 2 before its release on the streaming platform on November 19.
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