Alicia Silverstone was called 'Fatgirl' after starring in George Clooney's 'Batman & Robin': 'It was hurtful'

Alicia Silverstone has revealed that she "stopped loving acting for a very long time" after she was body-shamed relentlessly for her role of Batgirl in 1997's 'Batman & Robin.'

The actress, now 43, was just 19 years old when her starring role in the hit 1995 comedy 'Clueless' earned her a multi-million dollar deal with Columbia Pictures for the big-budget superhero film and the agonizing scrutiny that came along with it.

Cast as Barbara Wilson/Batgirl, the film's poor performance, both critical and commercial, saw Silverstone skewered in the media and given a Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actress. Close to 23 years later, the actress told the Guardian that the movie was something that affected her, especially because of the comments that were made about her weight at the time, and that it "definitely wasn’t my favorite film-making experience."

"They would make fun of my body when I was younger," she said. "It was hurtful but I knew they were wrong. I wasn’t confused. I knew that it was not right to make fun of someone’s body shape, that doesn’t seem like the right thing to be doing to a human."

Tabloids at the time popularly referred to Silverstone as 'Fatgirl,' while paparazzi who hounded her for photographs would often do so by chanting it to get her attention. A particular low point was when a journalist reportedly asked her for her bra size.

The 43-year-old said she had a clear idea of right and wrong even then and that as things grew increasingly toxic, she still tried to learn from it.

"There were working circumstances that were less than favorable in terms of how things went down," she shared. "And no, I didn't say 'f*** you' and come out like a warrior but I would just walk away and go, 'OK I know what that is and I’m done, I’m not going near that again'."

While she admitted that her strategy for dealing with male creepiness in her personal life was "a lot more muddy," the confidence she had professionally allowed her to steer away from what a young actor was expected to do and instead focus on what she wanted to do.

"I stopped loving acting for a very long time," she said. "My body was just like, this is what I’m meant to do, I love it so much, I need to find a way to do both, to be able to be an actress and be an activist at the same time so that’s what I did."

Silverstone also spoke about the novel coronavirus pandemic and said she has been focused on "everything" she can do, including donating and calling attention to initiatives working to help provide frontline responders with personal protective equipment.

"I’m an activist so I’m kind of used to suffering in terms of what is going in with the world with the climate and looking at the abuse that’s going on," she said. "This is very surreal and different but at the same time, I’ve been dealing with this for 25 years."