Charlize Theron “blamed” herself when she endured sexual harassment at the hands of a director 25 years ago.
The ‘Bombshell’ star claims she was harassed by a filmmaker in 1994 when she showed up at his house for an audition, where he was dressed in his pyjamas and during which time he touched her leg, before she apologised and left.
And now, the actress has said she spent a lot of time blaming herself for the alleged encounter, because she didn’t think she had done enough to stop him.
She said: “I just kept hitting the steering wheel. I put a lot of blame on myself … that I didn’t say all the right things, and that I didn’t tell him to take a hike, and that I didn’t do all of those things that we so want to believe we’ll do in those situations.”
Charlize, 44, confronted the director years later, and has said it felt unsatisfying at the time because it didn’t bring her “full closure”.
She added: “In sexual harassment, you’re always waiting for that moment where there’s full closure, where you feel like you’ve actually … had your moment, where you get to say your piece. And that never really happens.
“I’ve heard this repeatedly in hearing other women’s stories, and that is the unfortunate thing about sexual harassment. You never get that moment where you feel like the tables are reversed and now he’s finally getting it.”
And the ‘Atomic Blonde’ actress even claims she told several people the name of the director when she first spoke about the alleged incident, but says they all chose not to reveal his identity.
Speaking to NPR, she said: “I actually did disclose his name. You don’t know that because every time I disclosed his name, the journalist made the decision to not write his name, and it goes to show just how deeply systemic this problem is.
“I remember the first time somebody asked me if I ever had a casting couch experience, and I openly shared the experience and named him, and the person decided to not write his name.
"So the story is out, and strangely, when the Harvey Weinstein story broke, I, for the first time ever, Googled the story and the story came up everywhere. It popped up everywhere, and nowhere could you find this guy’s name. And it was incredibly upsetting to me.”