V for Vendetta: Natalie Portman sheds light on Hollywood sexual harassment problem

Oscar-winner dishes out on her own experiences with sexism and harassment

Like many female actors, Natalie Portman is still unpacking years of work tainted by sexual harassment. But unlike many female actors, she has chosen to speak up against it.

At the Vulture Festival held in Los Angeles, the Hollywood starlet shed some light on sexism in Hollywood, amid the deluge of allegations emerging against various powerful personalities in the industry.

PHOTO:VULTURE

“When I heard everything coming out, I was like, 'Wow, I’m so lucky that I haven’t had this.' And then, on reflection, I was like, 'Okay, definitely never been assaulted, definitely not, but I’ve had discrimination or harassment on almost everything I’ve ever worked on in some way',” Natalie said on Sunday, reported Vulture. “I went from thinking I don’t have a story to, 'Oh wait, I have 100 stories.' And I think a lot of people are having these reckonings with themselves, of things that we just took for granted as like, part of the process.”

Natalie recalled an incident wherein a producer once invited her to fly with him and his company on a private plane to a place she was also going. “I showed up and it was just the two of us and one bed was made on the plane. Nothing happened, I was not assaulted. I said, ‘This doesn’t make me feel comfortable,’ and that was respected," she shared. "But that was super not okay, you know? That was really unacceptable and manipulative. I was scared, you know? But just the fact of any woman, if you’re walking down the street alone at night, you feel scared, and I’m not sure guys know what that feels like.”

The Black Swan actor also admitted she turns down offers that could lead to her being overly objectified. “There was definitely a period where I was reluctant to do any kind of kissing or sexual scenes. Because [for] my first roles, the reaction people would [give] in reviews [was to] call me a Lolita and things like that, and I got so scared by it,” Natalie said. “And I think that’s also got to be part of our conversation now: When you’re defensive as a woman against being looked at that way, that you’re like, ‘I don’t want to’ — what do we close off of ourselves or diminish in ourselves because we want to protect ourselves?”

PHOTO:FILE

Natalie also pinpointed the overwhelming male-dominance on film sets she frequented throughout her career. “Usually you walk into a movie as the only woman and you’re often the only woman on set. It’s very rare to have female crew members apart from hair, makeup, and wardrobe — the very stereotypical departments for women to be in — and I think women experience this in a lot of industries,” she stated. “If you do get the opportunity to work, you’re often the only woman in the room. I hear this from friends of mine who are lawyers, business people, writers on shows, etc.”

Natalie was last seen as Jackie Kennedy in 'Jackie' PHOTO:FILE

The Hollywood beauty wondered if such isolation is deliberate. “The surprising thing is, it almost feels strategic to keep you away from other women because you don’t have the opportunity to share stories. All these accusations are like, ‘Oh yeah, everyone was isolated from each other,’ people didn’t share. They didn’t realise that there were hundreds of people with similar stories,” said Natalie. "It prevents mentorship of women by other women because you’re just not exposed to it. You have to work hard to find and actually connect to people doing the same thing because we’re often that one seat at the table.”

Even for an A-lister like Natalie, the table’s not always welcoming. The Oscar winner revealed that she is often solicited for notes on projects which then go unincorporated. She went on to praise some of the male directors she has worked with for valuing her opinion but also shared where one of them snapped at her saying, “You’re exhausting.”

Natalie with 'Black Swan' director Darren Aranofsky PHOTO:FILE

“I was like, ‘I’m exhausting for telling you my opinion about my job?’ And it was completely different with male actors next to me in the same room,” Natalie added. “To the point where one of the male actors I was working with stood up for me in that meeting because he said, ‘You know, you’re completely not listening to her and you’re completely listening to me and we’re saying almost the same thing.’”

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