Mandy Moore helps Dove promote importance of ‘real-women’ role models

TORONTO – Singer-actress Mandy Moore admits there was a time when she grappled with her self-esteem.

It was when she was young and sprouted to five feet, 10 inches, much taller than most of her friends at the time.

“It affected my posture, I would hunch over, and my mom was really a key influence in my life for sort of telling me to embrace who I was and stand tall,” the winsome 28-year-old said Tuesday she prepared to speak at Dove’s live-streamed “Women Who Should be Famous” event.

“My mom is five-foot-two, so she’s like: ‘Look, you tower over me, it’s an attribute and quality I promise you will learn to love, especially as you get older. It’s something you should really be grateful for and stand proud with your shoulders back.'”

The Florida-bred Moore, who rose to fame as a teen in the late ’90s with the pop album “So Real,” said show business hasn’t affected her negatively because she’s been surrounded by incredible female role models, both in the industry and behind the scenes.

As a spokeswoman for the Dove “Women Who Should be Famous” campaign, she hopes to help other young girls find strong “real women” role models to build their self-esteem.

“I really am a big fan of all of the real-women campaigns that Dove has done and I love the idea that they’re very committed to inspiring women and girls to reach their full potential, and I also like their philosophy that beauty should be a source of confidence and not anxiety,” said Moore, whose films include “A Walk to Remember” and “License to Wed.”

“All of that is kind of aligned with my own sort of personal philosophy, so I was like, ‘Full steam ahead, whatever I can do to work with them.'”

The Dove campaign, which has already taken Moore to New York and Washington, is shining the spotlight on seven inspirational women in the fields of science, leadership, environmentalism and the arts.

They include Fahima Osman, who arrived in Canada as a refugee from Somalia and is now a physician, and environmentalist and former child-activist Severn Cullis-Suzuki, daughter of famed Canuck science broadcaster David Suzuki.

“They’re women who have remarkable stories and extraordinary stories but they’re also really tangible and relatable and I think they’re perfect examples of exactly what this campaign is about, which is identifying those positive real women role models in your lives,” said Moore, whose TV credits include “TRON: Uprising,” “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Entourage.”

Moore is also keeping busy these days collaborating with her alt-rocker husband, Ryan Adams, on a new album.

“We’ve been writing a little bit together and I hope to start recording … sometime over the summer … in the coming couple of weeks,” said Moore, noting the two also plan to record together.

“You know, if you do the same thing as your spouse, at some point there’s going to be some sort of collaborative effort.”