Ashley Judd reveals she was sexually harassed by Hollywood film executive who asked her to watch him shower
The actress spoke as part of Variety's 'Power of Women' issue
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Your support makes all the difference.Ashley Judd says she was sexually harassed by a leading Hollywood film executive in the late nineties, who lured her to his hotel room and asked her to watch him shower.
Judd described the man as one of the industry’s “most famous, admired-slash-reviled bosses”, who she met while she was filming 1997’s Kiss The Girls.
Speaking to Variety for their Power of Women issue, she detailed the man’s controlling nature, saying “he was very stealth and expert about it. He groomed me”, inviting her out for dinner, then suggesting she come to his hotel room instead and help him pick out clothes to wear.
Judd has since spoke to several women in the industry who had also been harassed by the same man.
“The ultimate thing when I was weaselling out of everything else was, ‘Will you watch me take a shower?’ And all the other women, sitting around this table with me, said, ‘Oh my god - that’s what he said to me, too’.
She adds that she turned down his requests, even when he suggested she may get nominated for an Academy Award if she complied.
“I beat myself up for a while. This is another part of the process. We internalise the shame,” she said.
The actress has spoken out before about the misogynist languge she is subjected to on social media, saying she will report anyone who threatens her in future to the police.
“What happened to me is the devastating social norm experienced by millions of girls and women on the Internet," she said.
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