Rachel McAdams praised for photoshoot with ‘minimal’ retouching

‘If you want to stop shaving again one day, that’s okay too,’ the actor said in a recent interview

Rachel McAdams has earned praise for her comments about body image while showing off her armpit hair during a minimally edited photo shoot for Bustle.

The Mean Girls star, 44, who stars in the upcoming film adaptation of the Judy Blume novel Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, was photographed for Bustle’s April issue. In the accompanying interview, McAdams opened up about her relationship with her body and why it’s so “important” for her to be able to reflect the “truth”.

The concept is not new to McAdams who recalled a photo shoot she shot for Girls Girls Girls magazine while promoting the 2017 film Disobedience, which saw her appear in a bra, jacket and breast pump.

“I love that juxtaposition of beauty, glam, fantasy, and then truth,” she said of the shoot, which took place shortly after she’d given birth to her son in 2018.

For her Bustle photo shoot, McAdams again posed in underwear and a jacket but with her armpit hair on full display. The actor reportedly asked that the photos be “edited as minimally as possible” because it was important for her to show off her real appearance.

“With this shoot, I’m wearing latex underwear. But I’ve had two children. This is my body, and I think that’s so important to reflect back out to the world,” she said. “It’s okay to look your best and work at it and be healthy, but that’s different for everyone.”

In a video accompanying the interview, McAdams also gave advice to her younger self.

“I’m going to give you the advice [my mother] gave me: ‘Once you start, you can never stop.’ And I remember rolling my eyes about that and thinking: ‘Ugh, that’s not the fun answer,’” she recalled. “But it’s so true. Life is long, shaving is intense. But if you’re going to go ahead with it anyway, watch the ankle bones, the shins … Always have shaving cream.”

McAdams then added: “If you want to stop shaving again one day, that’s okay too.”

On social media, McAdams’ comments and minimally edited photos have been met with praise from fans, with many applauding her.

“This is what I needed to see when I was growing up!” one person commented on Instagram, while another said: “Want more of this in Hollywood!”

“I love Rachel McAdams for bringing out the underarm hair on the Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret press tour,” someone else tweeted.

Although McAdams is now able to embrace her appearance, she joked during an interview with Entertainment Tonight that her role in the coming-of-age movie as Margaret’s mother brought up “a little PTSD” from her own pre-teen years.

“But, you know, it’s a beautiful time as well,” she added.

The actress, who is notoriously private about her and partner Jamie Linden’s five-year-old son and daughter, who they welcomed during the pandemic, also revealed whether she plans to show the movie to her children.

“She probably will be [embarrassed], so I’m just gonna prepare myself for that,” McAdams said of her daughter’s future reaction, adding: “But I’m really excited to show it to my son too! I feel like it’s great for guys to see behind the scenes... to just normalise what’s really normal and create compassion between the sexes. So I hope a lot of boys will go and see this with their moms, or their dads too.”

Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret is out 28 April in US cinemas and 19 May in the UK.