Ellen Page may seem like one of the bravest, most self-assured people in Hollywood, incapable of being bullied. Unfortunately that apparently isn’t true.
The Flatliners star took to Facebook on Friday to recount some of the worst experiences of her career, including some against Brett Ratner.
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While we’ve heard worse allegations about the director over the past few days, Ellen’s account of his behavior on the set of X3: The Last Stand is no less disgusting. She writes:
“He ‘outed’ me with no regard for my well-being, an act we all recognize as homophobic. I proceeded to watch him on set say degrading things to women. I remember a woman walking by the monitor as he made a comment about her ‘flappy pussy’.”
Ick. Sadly this isn’t the worst Ellen had endured, even at such a young age. When she was 16, she says, she was harassed, preyed on, and sexually assaulted:
“When I was sixteen a director took me to dinner (a professional obligation and a very common one). He fondled my leg under the table and said, ‘You have to make the move, I can’t.’ I did not make the move and I was fortunate to get away from that situation. It was a painful realization: my safety was not guaranteed at work. An adult authority figure for whom I worked intended to exploit me, physically. I was sexually assaulted by a grip months later. I was asked by a director to sleep with a man in his late twenties and to tell them about it. I did not. This is just what happened during my sixteenth year, a teenager in the entertainment industry.”
Horrifying.
In her essay, Ellen talks not just of her personal experience but of the bigger picture, of what needs to change in Hollywood, Washington, and everywhere else.
It’s an inspiring read, and we highly recommend checking out the entire thing (below):
[Image via 20th Century Fox/Dennis Van Tine/Future Image/WENN.]
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