The Oscar-winning actresses have shared their own stories.
In the aftermath of the various allegations that were made about Harvey Weinstein’s inappropriate behaviour, various actresses and actors have spoken out about their own experiences of being sexually harassed.
Following the example of Gwyneth Paltrow, Ashley Judd, Rose McGowan, Cara Delevingne, and many others, Game of Thrones star Lena Headey is the most recent person to allege that Weinstein made unwanted sexual advances towards them.
At a recent event in Hollywood, Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Lawrence talked about their own experiences of being sexually harassed while working in the film industry.
Witherspoon said: “This is going to be a real emotional rollercoaster because, before we get started honoring one of my very favorite people in the whole world, I just want to say, this has been a really hard week for women in Hollywood, for women all over the world, for men in a lot of situations and a lot of industries that are forced to remember and relive a lot of ugly truths,I have my own experiences that have come back to me very vividly, and I found it really hard to sleep, hard to think, hard to communicate.”
The star of Walk the Line and Cruel Intentions said that she felt “true disgust” towards an unnamed director that assaulted her when she was 16 years old.
At the time of this incident, Witherspoon said that various agents and producers made her feel that “silence was a condition of my employment.” The Oscar-winning actress also noted that this wasn’t an isolated incident.
“I’ve had multiple experiences of harassment and sexual assault, and I don’t speak about them very often, but after hearing all the stories these past few days and hearing these brave women speak up tonight, the things that we’re kind of told to sweep under the rug and not talk about, it’s made me want to speak up and speak up loudly because I felt less alone this week than I’ve ever felt in my entire career,” she said.
Regarding Lawrence’s own experiences, the star of American Hustle and Silver Linings Playbook stated that she felt degraded and humiliated after being asked to appear in a “nude lineup” with other women.
She adds: “we all stood side-by-side with only paste-ons covering our privates. After that degrading and humiliating lineup, the female producer told me I should use the naked photos of myself as inspiration for my diet.”
After recounting this experience to a male producer, Lawrence was told that she was “perfectly fuckable.”
