Olivia Wilde has reflected on her reaction to being named number one on Maxim's Hot 100 list in 2009.
The actress and filmmaker opened up about the moment she learned she had topped the men's magazine's annual ranking during a recent appearance on the Call Her Daddy podcast.
Speaking to host Alex Cooper, Olivia admitted she had mixed feelings about the title.
"I remember my publicist called me and said, you're number one, do you want to accept it?" she said.
The 42-year-old continued, "I remember being like, I understand this is the most f**ked up thing in the world, but the part of me that felt who didn't fit in from high school, the girl who never felt like who fit those (beauty) standards, who felt awkward and wrong in every way, I know that part of me was like, really? You want me?"
The O.C. actress was featured on the cover of Maxim's June 2009 issue after being named the magazine's hottest woman.
Olivia went on to explain that while she disliked the idea that a woman's value could be "entirely dependent on our fickle, subjective definition of beauty", she recognised that the recognition benefited her acting career.
"I got roles upon roles from that. It led to casting," she revealed. "You have to take responsibility for your participation in that self-objectification."
Elsewhere in the conversation, Olivia shared how directing has given her a greater sense of freedom and control in her career.
"Directing has been liberating in a way that is very profound because as an actor, you are very dependent," she told Alex. "You're dependent on people choosing you and people projecting a certain kind of definition onto you of a character of what you are."
"With being director, there's a sense of agency. I think the first time that I called action on my own set of my first film, I felt a thrill of independence for the first time," she continued. "My value on a set was entirely based on my ideas and if I had an instinct to change a scene, I could do that."
Olivia made her directorial debut with Booksmart in 2019 and later helmed 2022's Don't Worry Darling.
