Angela Lansbury has issued a statement defending herself after a recent interview in which she said women “must sometimes take blame” for sexual harassment.
In the statement issued on Wednesday, the 92-year-old “Murder She Wrote” star said that her words were taken out of context and that she is “devastated” by the thought that people believe her to be a defender of sexual misconduct.
“There is no excuse whatsoever for men to harass women in an abusive sexual manner. And, I am devastated that anyone should deem me capable of thinking otherwise,” Lansbury said. “Those who have known the quality of my work and the many public statements I have made over the course of my life, must know, that I am a strong supporter of Women’s Rights.”
“Lastly, I would like to add that I am troubled by how quickly and brutishly some have taken my comments out of context and attempted to blame my generation, my age, or my mindset, without having read the entirety of what I said,” she continued.
In a recent interview, Lansbury told the Radio Times that women must accept some blame for sexual harassment because they “go out of their way to make themselves attractive” to men.
“There are two sides to this coin,” she said. “We have to own up to the fact that women, since time immemorial, have gone out of their way to make themselves attractive. And unfortunately it has backfired on us — and this is where we are today.”
“We must sometimes take blame, women. I really do think that,” Lansbury continued. “Although it’s awful to say we can’t make ourselves look as attractive as possible without being knocked down and raped.”
She went on to say that there is “no excuse” for sexual misconduct in the Radio Times interview.