Jennifer Lawrence is one of the biggest stars in Hollywood and was, until very recently, the highest paid actress within the industry.
She’s long been an advocate for women’s rights within Hollywood and has rightly not been shy about criticising the unfairness inherent between the treatment of female talent when compared to their male counterparts.
Now, Lawrence has opened up about her own experiences with sexual harassment in Hollywood, speaking of feeling ‘trapped’ when she was required to do a naked line-up with other actresses, report The Cut.
She recounted the incident in her speech at Elle’s Women in Hollywood event, where Lawrence was one of eight women to receive honours, saying:
A female producer had me do a nude line-up with about five women who were much, much, thinner than me.
We are stood side-by-side with only tape covering our privates. After that degrading and humiliating line-up, the female producer told me I should use the naked photos of myself as inspiration for my diet.
Lawrence took this grievance to another producer to tell them this behaviour was unacceptable, the (this time male) producer said she was ‘perfectly f*ckable’ and ‘didn’t understand why everyone thought she was so fat.’
She’d also been told before this to lose 15 pounds in a matter of weeks if she wanted to land a role she’d gone for.
Describing the effects of these incidents, Lawrence said she felt ‘trapped’ by what had happened to her, which meant she ‘let myself be treated a certain way because I felt I had to for my career.’
Lawrence has since broken free of those chains of body shaming in the industry and has become a shining light for body positivity for men and women around the world.
She even got involved in a spat with Joan Rivers for saying Fashion Police is harmful to children.
Speaking about the cases of the alleged abuse of Harvey Weinstein, Lawrence said the resulting openness of women who are sharing their stories of sexual harassment as ‘oddly unifying.’
Harvey Weinstein has been fired over allegations of sexual abuse from multiple women, dating back throughout his career – high profile names such as Cara Delevigne and Rose McGowan have publicly accused Weinstein of various sexual assaults.
McGowan has been the most outspoken critic of Weinstein, though many women and men have come forward during this time to speak of their own personal stories.
The hashtag #metoo has been trending on twitter as victims foster an atmosphere and openness in the face of what’s happened to them.
It’s also been reported UK police are investigating three further sexual assault allegations in London, all involving the Hollywood producer.
Weinstein, the 65-year-old producer whose net worth is an estimated $200 million, ‘unequivocally denied’ claims of non-consensual sex set out in the New Yorker, yet apologised for causing ‘pain’, adding he’s now in sexual addiction counselling.
Statements like those from Lawrence and others just go to show nobody is safe from the culture which permeates through Hollywood and society – of silence and acquiescence – which leave the victims powerless to stop the perpetrators of these horrible crimes.
The more women with powerful voices like Lawrence who begin to speak out, the more the culture will eventually die.
