Rachel McAdams Isn’t Hiding Her Armpit Hair And Says It’s “OK” To Stop Shaving
McAdams opened up to Bustle about her postpartum body, her kids, and her new movie.
Rachel McAdams is not shying away from the cameras. In fact, she wants them to be up close and personal, capturing her natural features — including her armpit hair.
For McAdams' latest photo shoot, the 44-year-old Canadian actor specifically requested that all the images taken have “minimal” retouching or airbrushing. To no one’s surprise, the images — part of a cover feature in Bustle — are ridiculously gorgeous, with the mother of two posing for shots in several different looks.
The Mean Girls alum sported latex hot pants, a white form-fitting gown with side cutouts, and a black corset where her armpit hair is visible as she lounges casually on a velvet couch.
“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 told Bustle.
“It’s OK to look your best and work at it and be healthy, but that’s different for everyone.”
The images quickly went viral, with several people commenting on McAdam’s willingness to let her natural self shine through.
“Love her, and also love appreciating bodies that age and expand regardless of whether they’ve had children or not,” one person commented.
Though some took issue with The Notebook star choosing to grow out her natural body hair, many fans were quick to point out the double standard standing on the pillars of misogyny and played-out gender roles.
“The majority of Men do not shave their armpits….WTH is the difference? Not my thing…..but to each their own. I don’t see a damn thing wrong with it, and I’m sure it won’t hinder the number of Men chasing after her,” one Twitter user wrote in reply to Bustle’s Twitter account.
McAdam’s ask for a more natural-looking photoshoot coincides with her latest role in the coming-of-age film adaptation of the classic Judy Blume book, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.
The story centers around Margaret’s journey into womanhood as she learns to navigate through puberty and her changing body. McAdams — who plays Margaret’s mother in the movie — revealed that she has enjoyed embracing the changes in her own body after getting older and becoming a mom.
“I felt like a milking machine,” McAdams told Bustle, mentioning that she’d given birth to her daughter just five months before filming started and was pumping between shots.
She revealed that the film’s costume designer asked McAdams if she’d feel comfortable filming braless. “The great irony is Margaret just can’t wait to get into a bra. But I’m playing a kind of wild child, hippie artist mom [who] doesn’t wear a bra throughout the whole film,” McAdams said.
“[We] really wanted Barb to feel like a real person who’s still figuring herself out, to put Margaret and her on similar trajectories.”
In an accompanying video interview for Bustle, McAdams extrapolated on her thoughts about body hair shaving, and also dished out some advice for anyone worried about the aging process.
“I’m going to give you the advice [my mother] gave me, ‘Once you start, you can never stop,’” she said. “I remember rolling my eyes about that and thinking: ‘Ugh, that’s not the fun answer.’ 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,” she said. “If you want to stop shaving again one day, that’s OK too.”
This is not McAdams’ first time making headlines for a bold photoshoot.
In 2018, the mother of two made headlines when she posed for a Girls Girls Girls magazine cover shoot wearing a breast pump along with her designer clothes and jewelry.
Photographer Claire Rothstein posted the picture on her Instagram, writing, “A million reasons why I wanted to post this picture. Obviously #rachelmcadams looks incredible and was quite literally the dream to work with but also this shoot was about 6 months post her giving birth to her son, so between shots she was expressing/pumping as still breastfeeding.”
Rothstein added, “I did not look anywhere near as fabulous as this when feeding/pumping. And that’s ok too.”
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