Kim Novak fears "social media and AI" are "today's bad directors" because they are "trying to remake women"

She told The Guardian newspaper: "We make progress, but unfortunately then we always go back. It inevitably always goes back to sex appeal.

"It still matters too much how we look. Social media and AI are able to show all kinds of stuff that isn't real. They're today's bad directors, trying to remake women."

Kim added of her own experiences in Hollywood after shooting to fame in the 1950s: "They hired you because they thought you have something special, and then the first thing they'd do is try to give you a new face.

"They'd want the mouth of Joan Crawford, the hair of Jean Harlow. So by the time you left the makeup chair, it wasn't even you any more. I needed to fight to keep my own sense of who I was ...

"I feared becoming 'Kim Novak'. Every time I played a role, I took on part of it. I was beginning to lose myself and what I stood for."

Kim eventually stepped away from Hollywood after marrying veterinarian Robert Malloy in 1976. She was left devastated by his death in 2020 and later admitted she used her painting as a way of dealing with her grief.

She told Closer US magazine: "I find my art is very prolific since my husband passed. I have a sense of him looking over my shoulder and watching me with that little smile on his face.

"Painting a picture of him felt like we could still communicate in a warm and intimate way. It made me feel less lonely.

"You have to be patient. Don't be afraid to let those emotions out and then let go."

While dealing with her grief has been difficult, Kim also admitted the practicalities of being a widow, such as being solely responsible for her business affairs, have also been an adjustment.

She said: "I learned how little I knew and did not fully appreciate just how hard my husband had to work. I never had to deal with business before, but now I have to do it all. Sometimes it's hard to keep from feeling sorry for myself."