In the latest revelation about Hollywood’s demeaning treatment of women, Jennifer Lawrence on Monday recounted an experience early in her career when she was asked to do a nude lineup and told to lose weight.
“One girl before me had already been fired for not losing enough weight fast enough,” the actress said at ELLE’s Women in Hollywood event Monday night. “And, during this time, a female producer had me do a nude lineup with about five women who were much, much thinner than me. And we all stood side-by-side with only paste-ons covering our privates. After that degrading and humiliating lineup, the female producer told me I should use the naked photos of myself as inspiration for my diet.”
She added, “I asked to speak to a producer about the unrealistic diet regime and he responded by telling me he didn’t know why everyone thought I was so fat, he thought I was perfectly ‘f—able.’
According to People, the actress also said she was told to lose 15 pounds in two weeks. The “mother!” star added that she felt “trapped” due to her lack of power at that time in her career. She did not name the producer or the project.
“I couldn’t have gotten a producer or a director or a studio head fired,” she explained. “I let myself be treated a certain way because I felt like I had to for my career. I was young and walking that fine line of sticking up for myself without being called difficult, which they did call me, but I believe the word they used was “nightmare.”
In a previous statement, Lawrence said she was “deeply disturbed” by the allegations against disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein whose company released her Oscar-winning hit “Silver Linings Playbook.”
“This kind of abuse is inexcusable and absolutely upsetting,” she said. “My heart goes out to all of the women affected by these gross actions. And I want to thank them for their bravery to come forward.”
Weinstein was fired from TheWeinstein Company and is under criminal investigation in New York and London after several women came forward to accuse him of sexual misconduct, including harassment and rape.
A representative for Weinstein has stated, “Any allegations of non-consensual sex are unequivocally denied by Mr. Weinstein. Mr.Weinstein has further confirmed that there were never any acts of retaliation against any women for refusing his advances.”