Rachel McAdams's New Empowering Shoot Shows Armpit Hair and Minimal Retouching

Rachel McAdams is pushing aside the gloss and glamour in her latest photoshoot — well, sort of. For her latest set of photos, which were published by Bustle, the actress and star of the upcoming Are You There God? It's Me Margaret requested that the images only get minimal retouching and, in a swerve that's rare for Hollywood, had her armpit hair on full display.

In the accompanying interview, McAdams spoke about her decision to show certain aspects of her current body, which comes after giving birth to two children. She notes that she wanted to offer up a more realistic take on body image, even though she was wearing things like latex and lace.

"With this shoot, I'm wearing latex underwear," she said of the photos. "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 said. "It's OK to look your best and work at it and be healthy, but that's different for everyone."

Back in 2017, when she was promoting Devotion, McAdams posed for Girls. Girls. Girls. magazine. That time around, she made a statement by posing with a breast pump. "I love that juxtaposition of beauty, glam, fantasy, and then truth," she told Bustle about that photo. 

McAdams also spoke about taking two years off from her acting career, telling Bustle that she doesn't regret it now, but she had second-guessed the decision in the past. The article mentions her missing out on projects like The Devil Wears Prada, Casino Royale, Mission: Impossible III, Iron Man, and Get Smart.

"I felt guilty for not capitalizing on the opportunity that I was being given, because I knew I was in such a lucky spot. But I also knew it wasn't quite jiving with my personality and what I needed to stay sane," she said. "There were definitely some anxious moments of wondering if I was just throwing it all away, and why was I doing that? It's taken years to understand what I intuitively was doing."