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Men exposed themselves to me once a week in my twenties: Helen Mirren opens up about sexual harassment
Helen Mirren spoke about her own history with sexual harassment in a recent interview.
Helen Mirren spoke about her own history with sexual harassment in a recent interview. The star, 72, told Sunday Today that while she was too old to be harassed when she arrived in Hollywood, men exposed themselves in front of her on a weekly basis.
“I had never experienced that (sexual harassment)…in Hollywood,” Mirren said. “Because (when) I came to Hollywood, I was in my 30s. I was too old. It doesn’t happen to you unless you’re very young.”
She continued, “when I was in between 16 and 23, 24 — men would expose themselves to me often, I would say about once a week…on the subway, on the tube, on the bus, walking down a road and it was like, ‘Ugh.’”
“It’s not like you’re gonna go, ‘Oh my god, that’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. It’s the opposite. It’s horror,” she said.
A wave of allegations against powerful men in Hollywood has been sweeping the industry since October, when multiple women came forward and accused producer Harvey Weinstein of harassment, assault and in some cases, rape. Since then, hundreds of men have been publicly accused of similar behaviour, with the most recent names being actor James Franco and comedian Aziz Ansari.
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