In the past half a year, it has become alarmingly clear that for every story of a wonderful, uplifting workplace in Hollywood you hear, there are several workplaces, productions, and endeavors where abuse is the norm, and employees are expected to “have a thick skin.” The way Anne Hathaway sees it, this won’t change without everyone, herself included, being willing to be a little uncomfortable.
In a recent profile with Glamour Magazine, Hathaway talks about, among other things, the abusive culture in Hollywood and how in her 20+ year career with over 35 films under her belt, she’s seen and experienced some terrible behavior. She also acknowledges that as bad as she’s had it, she knows that there are people who’ve experienced much worse due to circumstances beyond their control (like race, for instance).
Hathaway didn’t want to talk specifics with regard to her own experiences, but she did say, “I’ve had a 20-year career and I’ve had some really, really bad experiences. But I’ve had a lot of great ones too—with members of both genders.” A little later, she says, “While they do not begin to approach the atrocious, galling stories others have shared in recent months, I have had negative on-set experiences, some of a sexual nature. Some are from the beginning of my career, some are more recent—all are unacceptable.”
It was experiencing both the good and the bad in Hollywood that inspired her to want to get involved in Time’s Up, because she knows that good experiences can happen, and she wants to ensure that those good experiences become standard.
“I know the world can be far worse for others than it has been to me,” she says. “But I suppose, like most everyone who has been hurt, I want to protect others from going through the worst of what I experienced. I want to help make what I consider the best of my experiences to be the norm, as it always should have been.”
Acknowledging the ways in which she experiences privilege, she says “One thing that I’m confronting about myself is my own bias and the fact that I aspired to be a part of [this industry] without having to imagine what it could look like if everybody was in it. But if change is going to happen, we have to get uncomfortable.”
Definitely check out the full profile, as it’s a pretty great read about an actress far too many are too quick to dismiss. And here’s to getting uncomfortable and actually being willing to do the work involved in creating a better working environment, in Hollywood and beyond.
(image: screencap)
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