Octavia Spencer graces the cover of Elle magazine’s ‘Women in Hollywood’ issue, due on stands on October 16. The Oscar Award winner looks dazzling in a sexy dress by Tadashi Shoji, the body-hugging frock featuring sheer strips that accentuate Spencer’s curves.
With tousled bed head hair, and a devil-may-care expression, the 40-year-old star of The Help might look easygoing on the cover, but shares one of the most painful experiences in her life in the pages of the November issue: being professionally bullied.
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“Early on I had to stand up to a producer – I won’t say who, but he is famous, famous,” Spencer told Elle. “He dressed me down in a crowded office. I told him right there in front of a hundred people, ‘You don’t know me well enough to use that tone’…And then I ran to the bathroom and cried like a baby. But he never addressed me that way again. And he is known as a yeller.”
Well, her career certainly survived that jarring challenge, and for that she is being honored by the respected women’s fashion magazine, along with Sarah Jessica Parker, Uma Thurman, and other superstar actresses. “The women are to be honored at an awards ceremony in Los Angeles on Oct. 15,” reports the Los Angeles Times.
In addition to Spencer, “Sarah Jessica Parker, Emma Watson and Dakota Fanning” also have separate covers of their own in addition to Octavia, according to The Huffington Post. The online news outlet also notes that Spencer’s shot is a close-up, cropping out much of her body — something often done for fuller-figured celebrity cover stars.
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“The closeup shot, showing very little of the star’s body, is typical of the fashion magazine covers we’ve seen in the past of curvy stars (see: Adele and Jennifer Hudsonon Vogue),” the Post states. “However, that didn’t seem to mess with Octavia’s wow factor, the Smashed actress looks picture perfect.”
Smashed, Spencer’s latest film, features the actress playing an AA sponsor in a dramedy about addiction featuring an ensemble cast. It looks like the fall will see a brilliant return of the lauded actress to the public eye, and that she will look extra-fabulous in the spotlight..
Follow Alexis Garrett Stodghill on Twitter at @lexisb.