Jennifer Lawrence Says Her Job Was 'Threatened' After She Stuck Up for Herself Against a Director
Jennifer Lawrence has had it with the “difficult” moniker placed on women who choose to speak their mind.
The actress shared her views on what she sees as an unfair double standard placed on women when she spoke as part of The Hollywood Reporter‘s annual Actress Roundtable alongside Allison Janney, Mary J. Blige, Emma Stone, and Saoirse Ronan.
During the wide-ranging discussion, the women spoke at length about the current climate of sexual harassment in Hollywood, but noted that even with all of the women coming forward to share their #MeToo stories there are still more who are staying silent out of fear of being labeled and losing out on future work.
“We have to recognize that there are so many who haven’t told their stories yet, who aren’t comfortable to share,” Stone said. “I feel so much compassion for those who are still getting up and going to work every day with their abuser or have had abuse in their past and who are not ready to say anything.” Stone added that it’s equally unfair that women are also feeling the pressure to come forward with their stories of assault and misconduct because, “If you’re not saying it now, then you’re complicit in this evil that’s occurring.”
Lawrence, replying to Stone’s comments, said you’re damned if you do and you’re damned if you don’t when it comes to standing against misconduct. “I finally made the decision to stand up for myself, and then I went to go to the bathroom at work and one of the producers stopped me and was like, ‘You know, we can hear you on the microphone, you’ve been really unruly,'” she said. “Which was not true, but basically my job was threatened because the director said something fucked up to me and I said, ‘That’s sick, you can’t talk to me like that,’ and then I was punished, and I got afraid that I wasn’t going to be hired again.”
Stone added that actions like that will get you labeled as “difficult,” to which Lawrence agreed, explaining that she too has become known as “difficult” and “a nightmare” simply for protecting herself at work. “I think a lot of people aren’t coming forward because they’re afraid they’re not going to work again,” she said. “You need to be able to say, ‘This is wrong’ and have somebody do something about it instead of saying, ‘Oh, it’s wrong? Well, you’re fired.'”
Lawrence is well aware that Hollywood isn’t in a bubble when it comes to the way women are treated in the workforce. However, she does see an opportunity as a high-profile actress to make change in not only entertainment but for all women everywhere. “We’re in the industry, everybody is looking at us,” she said. “If we’re going through this, every woman in the world is going through this.”