Jennifer Lawrence is planning on starting a community that safeguards women in Hollywood from sexual assault/harassment. In an interview with ET’s Carly Steel, the actress admitted that she has been subjected to sexual harassment and sexism in the industry. She shared details of this experience at Elle’s 24th Annual Women in Hollywood event.
What Lawrence had to say
According to Vanity Fair, the actress said in her speech that one of the producers of her first film forced her to participate in a demeaning and humiliating audition scene. The producer had even asked Jennifer to shed 15 pounds in two weeks.
She was later asked to do a “naked line-up” by the same person. These things weren’t part of her original audition procedure. Lawrence felt threatened, as she was aware that one of the other actresses was fired because she couldn’t lose 15 pounds within the given time. The actress experienced a shocking revelation when she found out that the producer was a woman too.
The female producer asked Lawrence to do a “nude line-up” with five others who were much skinnier than her. According to Daily Accord, the nude picture was apparently taken so that the actress would feel inspired to follow her diet and lose weight in the given time frame. The “Silver Linings Playbook” actress then added that years later, she shared this horrible experience with another producer.
In response, this producer-in-question told her that he did not understand why everyone thought Lawrence was fat. According to him, the actress was “perfectly f****ble.” The actress further added that she had to compromise on many occasions because she was afraid of losing her job. Despite finding it extremely “humiliating,” the actress complied with unreasonable demands.
More regarding similar incidents
According to Fox News, Jennifer then went on to say that she is still learning that she doesn’t need to smile when someone is making her feel uncomfortable. She feels that every human being should be treated with respect. Reese Witherspoon also addressed the audience at Elle’s event. During her speech, Reese admitted that she was “sexually assaulted” by a movie director when she was sixteen-years-old.
The actress, however, decided to keep this to herself. She admitted that she sympathizes with all those who went through a similar experience and never really got the opportunity to speak about it or defend themselves against it.
