J.Law opens up on her upleasant experiences as a young aspiring actress at a Hollywood event attended by the likes of Margot Robbie, Jessica Chastain and Kristen Stewart.
- Oct 17, 2017
AceShowbiz - Jennifer Lawrence shared her unpleasant experiences as a new actress working in Hollywood. During her acceptance speech at the ELLE Women in Hollywood event, the 27-year-old Oscar winner told star-studded crowd that included Margot Robbie, Jessica Chastain, Cindy Crawford and Kristen Stewart that producers once told her she was too fat.
"When I was much younger and starting out, I was told by producers of a film to lose 15 pounds in two weeks," she said. "During this time 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 on 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," she continued. She tried to object to a male producer but his response was crude. "He said he didn't know why everyone thought I was so fat, he thought I was 'perfectly f***able.' "
She felt "trapped" by the experience. "I let myself be treated a certain way because I felt I had to for my career," she said. "I'm still learning that I don't have to smile when a man makes me uncomfortable." She added, "Every human being should have the power to be treated with respect because they're human."
During the star-studded gala, fellow honoree Reese Witherspoon also spoke out against sexual harassment. She revealed, "I have my own experiences that have come back to me very vividly and I find it really hard to sleep, hard to think, hard to communicate a lot of the feelings that I've been having about anxiety...[and] guilt for not speaking up earlier."
"[I feel] true disgust at the director who assaulted me when I was 16 years old and anger at the agents and the producers who made me feel that silence was a condition of my employment," she continued. "And I wish I could tell you that was an isolated incident in my career, but sadly it wasn't. I've had multiple experiences of harassment and sexual assault, and I don't speak about them very often."
