The former 'Transformers' leading lady insists she was 'never assaulted or preyed upon' by Michael Bay while she calls Hollywood a 'ruthlessly misogynistic industry.'

• Jun 24, 2020

AceShowbiz - Megan Fox has insisted she was never "preyed upon" by Michael Bay after an interview she gave in 2009 about her experiences working with the director led to some fans calling for him to be cancelled.

During a chat on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" back in 2009, Megan recalled the process of starring as an extra in "Bad Boys II", saying at the time, "I had just turned 15 and I was an extra in Bad Boys II. They were shooting this club scene and they brought me in and I was wearing a stars and stripes bikini and a red cowboy hat and, like, six-inch heels."

"He approved it and they said, 'Michael, she's 15 so you can't sit her at the bar and she can't have a drink in her hand.' So his solution to that problem was to then have me dancing underneath a waterfall getting soaking wet."

After the interview was unearthed by Megan's followers, many accused Bay of sexualising a teenager and suggested he should be "cancelled" - when someone has public support for them withdrawn following an offensive remark.

However, in the wake of the backlash, Megan released a statement - insisting that Michael's behaviour was never objectionable, considering the nature of the "ruthlessly misogynistic industry" she works in.

"While I greatly appreciate the outpouring of support, I do feel I need to clarify some of the details as they have been lost in the retelling of the events and cast a sinister shadow that doesn't really, in my opinion, belong. At least not where it's currently being projected…," she wrote in the open letter.

"I was around 15 or 16 years old when I was an extra in Bad Boys II. There are multiple interviews where I shared the anecdote of being chosen for the scene and the conversations that took place surrounding it. It's important to note however that when I auditioned for Transformers I was 19 or 20."

"I did 'work' (me pretending to know how to hold a wrench) on one of Michael's Ferrari's during one of the audition scenes. It was at the Platinum Dunes studio parking lot, there were several other crew members and employees present and I was at no point undressed or anything similar. So as far as this particular audition story I was not underaged at the time and I was not made to 'wash' or work on someone's cars in a way that was extraneous from the material in the actual script."

She continued, "Please hear me when I thank you for your support. But these specific instances were inconsequential in a long and arduous journey along which I have endured some genuinely harrowing experiences in a ruthlessly misogynistic industry."

Suggesting she has numerous stories to tell, Megan added that the "names that deserve to be going viral in cancel culture right now" are "safely stored in the fragmented recesses of my heart."

"But when it comes to my direct experiences with Michael... I was never assaulted or preyed upon in what I felt was a sexual manner," she concluded.