Just weeks before turning 50 in March 2016, actress Elise Neal nearly broke the internet posting pictures of her nearly flawless bikini body on Instagram.
Commentors and Twitter users couldn’t contain themselves from appreciating the obvious–Neal looked damn good, especially for a woman of a certain age.
The Logan star tells ESSENCE about the hilarious and henious things that go down in her DMs and she really feels about dating in and out of the industry.
“Some gross stuff happens in my DMs!,” she said with a laugh. “These men on the internet are stupid and most of them are 12 and it’s some shouts but not as much as you would think. I get a few but most of the time it’s people standing out completley on faith and bombing by saying something completely disgusting.”
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When it comes to whether or not she’s interested in shooting her own shot, the Memphis Native says she’s weary of online dating.
“I’m not good in the DMs,” Neal added honestly. “I’m not about that DM life. I don’t know if this is you, if I’m being catfished. I’m really scared! Like is this you or is this your mama playing with me or your girlfriend pretending on the internet. So I don’t even respond a lot of the time.”
Having never been married, Neal says she’s comfortable dating as long as it’s no one in the industry because after so many years, the biggest lesson the star has learned in love is being open about what’s going on during life on set.
“Being an actor or being in the entertainment industry, if you don’t take time to explain what you really are about or want people will assume and it took me years to understand that. I really was more of a, ‘oh, he knows what I’m doing.’ I learned later in life that that man is really worried about whether or not I’m on set with someone like a Terrence Howard and something physical could happen and I’m thinking no, I’d rather keep it to an actor to actor experience. I decided years ago not to date actors. I don’t want my name out in those streets! I just want to be professional at work. Now, I like to share more about I’m really about, what’s really going on and try to make whomever I’m dating more involved in the day-to-day process. I’ve lost relationships from not sharing enough.”