For a long time, Alanis Morissette used to struggle with her place in the music industry. With all the success, it can be a serious struggle to grapple with the celebrity and criticism. Sometimes, they can come from even the most unexpected places.
During a performance at the YouTube Theater in Los Angeles, Morissette tackled the pressures and struggles with fame during her prime in the 90s. One person even allegedly suggested that she play into her sexuality as a woman in order to gain more traction. “I’ve even had a guy ask me why I didn’t lead with my sexuality. Thank you, Ben Affleck.” she joked with a video of the actor’s head exploding in their 1999 film Dogma.
Ben Affleck is yet to respond to the claim. But he was just one in a sea of voices prodding at Alanis Morissette in a tumultuous music industry. According to Entertainment Weekly, she grappled with “harsh judgments” about herself, even things she couldn’t quite control.
“About my songs, about my body, about how I look, about how I think, about how I feel, about my value system, about my weight, about how feral I am, about how feral I live, about my approach to parenting, about my approach to education, my approach to freaking anything,” she said.
Alanis Morissette Reflects on All The Hate She’s Received During Her Career
This even extended to the women she admired in the music industry as well. Everyone from Tori Amos to Joni Mitchell to Courtney Love “were ripping me apart publicly” during the height of her career. Ultimately, she only found kinship with the likes of Elliott Smith and Tupac.
“The sisterhood I so badly needed was truly nonexistent in the ‘90s. There were no girl squads then,” Alanis Morissette told the audience. “The women were competitive and vicious. The scarcity message was that there was one throne, and we were all fighting for it, and whoever was in it, kill her.”
This came on the heels of Morissette proudly coming out as pansexual during a recent podcast appearance. One of the cohosts asked if the treatment of men ever made her want to experiment with her sexuality in the past. Then, she nonchalantly came out, much to the shock and awe of the podcast hosts. When one quipped they wished they led with such a revelation, Alanis Morissette grinned, “I like to leave it for the epilogue.”
Photo by Michael Miller/ISI Photos via Getty Images
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