Andie MacDowell considered jumping out of a window "for about three seconds" when she was dubbed out of her first movie.
The actress began her career as a model but in 1984 she moved into film with a part in Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes. She was cast at Jane but when she'd finished work she was told that Glenn Close would be reading her lines instead. It was a huge blow to Andie, who had always felt people were only interested in her aesthetically.
"I had three choices. The first was jump out a window. I thought about it, for about three seconds. But it was an option," she told British newspaper The Guardian. "And I thought, ‘That’s stupid.’ Option No 2 was give up. Truly give up. ‘You’re no good. You’re a disaster. You’re horrible.’ And option three was fight. ‘Go prove yourself.’ And I chose option three.”
Afterwards Andie felt she was "untouchable" because she knew people felt she was a "bad" actress.
Thanks to hard work she managed to turn that around and has since appeared in movies like 1989's Sex, Lies, and Videotape, which saw her nominated for a best actress Golden Globe.
The star's latest outing is in upcoming male stripper romp Magic Mike XXL, with Channing Tatum, Joe Manganiello and Matt Bomer also appearing. Her character Nancy is the mother of a girl the guys go to visit, and she was a hoot to play because she's sexually charged and foul-mouthed. But don't make the mistake of calling her a cougar.
"I think it’s unfair that we don’t have a male equivalent. There was a cougar line; I took it out. I didn’t wanna say it," she explained.
"Yeah [I bristle at the word]. I just think it’s unnecessary. It’s demeaning. I think the idea that men get more handsome and sexier as they get older is a fallacy. There’s no difference. We’re the same. It was a way to empower men and disempower women. And that’s changing, because if I wanna date someone that’s 20 years younger than me, I can do that now."
