Lucy Hale is revealing that she is no Anastasia Steele.
In the September issue of Cosmopolitan Magazine, the 25-year-old actress recalled her audition for the erotic novel-turned-movie "Fifty Shades of Grey," saying the experience was not what she initially expected.
"That audition was so uncomfortable! It's exactly what you thought it would be: a big monologue but very, very sexual," Hale said. "There were some things that I was so embarrassed to be reading out loud, but it's one of those things where you have to commit wholeheartedly or you're going to make a fool of yourself."
The role of Anastasia Steele was eventually given to Dakota Johnson, who will star opposite actor Jamie Dornan. But the "Pretty Little Lairs" star is proving that she isn't afraid to take risks, having released her first country album, "Road Between."
"So many people didn't want to touch the project with a 10-foot pole," she recalled. "Literally, I had people laughing and saying, 'You're making an album? Good luck.' But if you sit down and talk music with me for 10 minutes, you know that's my passion."
Hale also gets candid about the how fans idolize the unrealistic beauty standards on "Pretty Little Liars" and why it can negatively affect the show's young fans.
"[The show] is about how we look, too," the actress said. "That's terrifying sometimes because you're breaking out or you feel gross and you still have to be in front of the camera," the actress says. "We'll post pictures on Instagram and people will be like, 'Y'all are so flawless.' Little do they know it's fake hair, fake eyelashes and a good filter. Little girls see that and think they have to be like that."
The September 2014 issue of Cosmopolitan hits newsstands Aug. 12.
