Megan Fox Says Jennifer's Body 'Never Really Stood a Chance' Due to Her Sex Symbol Status

Megan Fox believes Jennifer's Body deserved better at the box office.

In a new interview on Eli Roth’s History of Horror: Uncut podcast, the actress, 34, said the 2009 cult classic didn't get enough recognition when it opened because people were too focused on ″vilifying″ her sex symbol status, which was established with her breakout role in Transformers.

″A lot of it was just about my image at the time and who I was in the media at the time and the backlash to that. The movie never really stood a chance,″ she explained. ″I was being vilified a little bit when the movie was getting ready for its release, it was that interesting juxtaposition to shooting up to extreme heights of fame right before the movie was released and then … the tearing me down was starting to happen."

"Then I had this immediate fallout with someone I worked in the industry. That happened right when I was on the press tour for Jennifer’s Body. I think it all sort of exploded at once,” Fox added. “I think people definitely viewed me as negative or having bad intentions or just being really shallow and selfish, if it could be reduced and simplified even to that.”

The feminist horror-comedy — written by Oscar winner Diablo Cody (Juno) and directed by Karyn Kusama (Girlfight) — stars Fox as a high schooler who becomes possessed by a demon and begins to feed on her male classmates.

In recent years, people have found a new appreciation for the movie, especially in light of the #MeToo era.

It was also recently added to The New York Times' list of great horror movies directed by women

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories

“It’s a nice circle. I didn’t expect it to grow like that. But to see it being appreciated now, obviously makes me feel really good," Fox said of the film's new acclaim. "I’m happy for Diablo and I’m happy for Karyn — all these people put in a lot of hard work into making a really quality project that was panned for reasons that had nothing to do with them."

Fox has previously spoken out about having to deal with misogyny in Hollywood. Last September, the actress said she nearly reached a "breaking point" after the 2009 release of Jennifer’s Body.

"It wasn’t just that movie, it was every day of my life, all the time, with every project I worked on and every producer I worked with,” Fox told Entertainment Tonight. “It preceded a breaking point for me.”

"I think I had a genuine psychological breakdown where I wanted just nothing to do,” she said. “I didn’t want to be seen, I didn’t want to have to take a photo, do a magazine, walk a carpet, I didn’t want to be seen in public at all because of the fear, and the belief, and the absolute certainty that I was going to be mocked, or spat at, or someone was going to yell at me, or people would stone me or savage me for just being out.”

She added, “So I went through a very dark moment after that.”