Kat Dennings reveals the 'harsh' feedback she got while auditioning at age 12: "They're idiots..."
Kat Dennings, widely famous for her role in '2 Broke Girls,' is shedding light on the harsh realities of exploring Hollywood as a child actor. At just 12 years old, the actress faced severe criticism from casting directors, an experience that left her both stunned and determined to prove them wrong. Reflecting on her early auditions, Dennings shared, "The time that I was auditioning and starting to act, it was a very different environment than it is now. There was not a lot of inclusivity at all. It was very harsh. There was a lot of extremely negative feedback, and people would not hold back."
Kat Dennings tells @People that casting directors called her “fat” and “not pretty” when she was 12:
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) January 17, 2025
"There was not a lot of inclusivity at all. It was very harsh. There was a lot of extremely negative feedback and people would not hold back." pic.twitter.com/meOIDBTSYE
As per People magazine, Dennings recalled one particularly painful memory. She recalled, "For example, I was 12. I'd go into an audition and I'd do it, and my manager would call me and I'd be like, 'How'd it go?' And they'd be like, 'Well, they thought you weren't pretty enough and you're fat.'" Rather than allowing such criticism to crush her spirit, Dennings turned it into motivation. She shared, "For some reason, it didn't break my spirit. I was like, 'I'll show them. I guess props to my parents because they were like, 'They're idiots. Don't listen to them.' And I was like, 'They're idiots, I'm not.'"
Kat Dennings said casting directors were "very cruel" to her when she first started acting:
— Variety (@Variety) January 19, 2025
“I was 12. I’d go into an audition and I’d do it, and my manager would call me and I’d be like, ‘How’d it go?’ And they’d be like, ‘Well, they thought you weren’t pretty enough and… pic.twitter.com/XVjeJobrQt
Looking back, Dennings finds the experience surreal. As per EW, later on, she realized the impact of that incident. She remarked, "It was pretty crazy, thinking about it. I'm like, 'How can anyone say that about a little kid? This is insane.'" She also acknowledged how much Hollywood has changed since then. She asserted, "There's body positivity, there's inclusivity, there's representation, and there was none of that before. It was really gross." Dennings continues to defy her early critics. Her latest project, ‘Shifting Gears,’ sees her star alongside Tim Allen in a multi-cam sitcom about a widowed classic car shop owner whose estranged daughter moves back in with her two kids.
Dennings describes the role as a serendipitous opportunity that came during a dark time in her life. She revealed, "I was like, 'God, I don't know what I want to do. I am just feeling so crazy,' Then the next day I got this call to do this show. So it felt like I wished for something and I got it. It just felt like a meant-to-be thing." Working with Allen, whom she calls a “cultural mainstay,” has been a surreal yet rewarding experience.
Beyond her career, Dennings fondly remembers her time with the late Bob Saget, her co-star in ‘Raising Dad.’ Saget, who passed away in 2022, played her TV dad on the short-lived series. She shared, “What I remember was he was very protective of me because I was a young actress and he had daughters. So he was very sweet to me and very protective and very kind. I only remember very, very nice memories of him.”