Mila Kunis confirmed to Vanity Fair a longstanding rumor about how she landed her breakout role as Jackie Burkhart on “That ’70s Show” after lying about her age. Kunis was 14 years old at the time, but the rumor claims she told the show’s creators she was 18 years old in order to audition, as the network was only looking for older teen actors.
“There’s a rumor going around that I may or may not have lied about my age,” Kunis said. “I’d like to make it very clear now that I did lie. I did.”
“However, by the time I went to what was then a producer’s network call…you have to sign a contract before you get the job and in my contract I had to put an asterisk for ‘studio teacher,'” she continued. “They were like, ‘What do you mean?’ And I was like, ‘Oh P.S., I’m 14.’ But at that point if you talk to the creators, they were like, ‘We loved you at that point so what did we care?'”
So yes, Kunis did lie about her age to get her foot in the door to audition, but co-creators Bonnie and Terry Turner were well aware she was a 14-year-old by the time the show started filming.
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“It was in the heyday of older kids playing younger kids and I was actually of the age of the character,” Kunis added. “I was never treated as lesser then. If I did by one of the cast members another cast member would stand up for it. The reason I don’t do drugs was because nobody on the set did. And I looked up to them at 14. The trajectory of my career could’ve gone any which way…but the set was cool.”
Kunis will be reprising the role of Jackie on Netflix’s upcoming sequel series “That ’90s Show,” but the streamer has yet to announce a release date. The actor promised fans last month that “That ’90s Show” is “very cute,” adding, “Anyone who has ever watched or loved ‘That ’70s Show’ will be really happy with it.”
Watch Kunis’ full Vanity Fair video interview below.
