Jamie Lee Curtis Explains Meaning Behind Her Red Top Throwback Photo

Jamie Lee Curtis knows how to get people talking — and ultimately draw attention to an important cause.

The legendary actress shared a throwback photo of herself via Instagram in which she’s scantily clad in a red-hot bra top with crisscross halter straps on Monday, December 1. Explaining that the photo was in honor of World AIDS Day, Curtis, 67, wrote, “To my friends, Rick and George and all their friends and families and all of yours and all who we lost, all over the world. We will continue the fight.”

The photo depicts Curtis at the APLA (AIDS Project Los Angeles) Walk at Paramount Studios in 1995, and fans were quick to explain in the comments section that the provocative garment pays tribute to the red AIDS ribbon.

“I JUST now realized that was an AIDS ribbon. Wow,” actor Cheyenne Jackson commented, while one user wrote, “It touches my heart that you memorialized my Uncle George and Rick today. I was in eighth grade when he passed and will never ever forget him. Bless you.”

Curtis explained the motive behind her iconic look while speaking to Us Weekly exclusively at the Cinema Society screening of her film Ella McCay at MoMA and 53 Restaurant in New York City on Tuesday, December 2.

“I had just lost my best friend, Rick Frank, that year. The year before, his husband died, and then Rick died, and I went to the AIDS Walk for the first time and wore that red ribbon sash,” she told Us. “I knew they wanted me to speak, and I wore a jacket over it, and when I got up to the microphone, I took my jacket off because I’m a very good marketing person.”

She continued: “I knew that if I walked up to that microphone and dropped that jacket wearing that red thing, it would make people pay attention, which is the point.”

A longtime advocate for AIDS organizations, Curtis was proud that she was able to bring attention to an important cause.

“We were there as a collective to try to do something together, which is what the AIDS Walk did and continues to do, which is raise money, raise awareness, more and more research, more attempts at finding a cure,” she told Us. “And even today I read that they’re closer than they’ve ever been.”

Richard “Rick” Frank worked with Curtis on the ABC sitcom Anything But Love. He died of complications from AIDS in 1995, as did his husband, George Lowe, who died the year prior.

“Get out of your own way,” Curtis told Us of her advice for women who want to be advocates like her. “Just get out of your own way. Just move that ego or move that obstacle you think is holding you back. Move it out of the way and just get f***ing going.”

She added: “We have no time to waste. Nobody does. Certainly not someone with a passion and an idea. You must drive that immediately.”

Curtis’ new film, Ella McCay, draws attention to another female advocate — albeit a fictional one — with its title character.

Centered around Emma Mackey’s titular Ella, the film follows her journey from lieutenant governor to governor while navigating complicated family dynamics and fighting for issues about which she is passionate. Curtis plays Ella’s blunt and affectionate aunt, Helen.

“We need a movie that lifts us, that reminds us that public service is actually about helping people overcome the obstacles and situations of their lives, and that a public forum and collective can lift people, which is what the goal of it all is,” Curtis told Us of the importance of the film. “Unfortunately, we’re living in a time where it’s not public service. It’s politicians. And it’s greed and avarice and vile behavior and language, and we’re seeing it play out every single day.”

She continued: “We must change the narrative back to a civility and a civilization that’s aimed at helping each other.”

Ella McCay premieres in theaters Friday, December 12.