Jennifer Lawrence has revealed that one of her first acting jobs was riddled with sexual harassment, ranging from weight loss lawsuits to pornography charges.
“When she was much younger and just debuting, the producers of a movie told me to lose 15 pounds in two weeks,” the Oscar-winning actress said at the Elle Women in Hollywood event on Monday. “(She was) a little crazy. A girl before me had already been fired for not losing enough weight fast enough. During this time, a production company had me do an n+ line-up with about five women who were much, much thinner than me. We are standing next to each other with only skins covering our private parts.
“After that degrading and humiliating line, the producer told me that I should use n+de photos of me as inspiration for my diet,” Lawrence, 27, added with a laugh. “I can laugh now, it’s okay.”
Lawrence claimed that his manager at the time only made things worse and made them more uncomfortable than they already were.
“She asked me to do a porn movie as a character,” she revealed, “among many other things that are too inappropriate to repeat here in this dress.” so fat she thought I was “perfectly f-kable”.
The ‘Mother’ star continued: ‘She was stuck, and I can see that now. I didn’t want to be a whistleblower, I didn’t want these embarrassing stories told in a magazine, I just wanted a career… In all the sadness, I think it’s been strangely unifying. It’s very fundamental to the female experience of being abused and shamed.
“In a dream world, everyone is treated with the same respect. But until we reach that goal, I will lend my ear, I will lend my voice to any boy, girl, man or woman who doesn’t feel like they can protect themselves,” she continued. “I let myself be treated a certain way because I felt I had to do it for my career,” she said. “I’m still learning that I don’t have to smile when a man makes me feel uncomfortable. Every human being should have the power to be treated with respect because they are human.
Lawrence also expressed support for a Hollywood commission proposed by Kathleen Kennedy that aims to end sexual harassment in the industry.
