Not every #MeToo moment is black and white.
In fact, most women have probably experienced instances of assault, harassment, and violations of consent that fall into a grey area that can’t be easily categorized. Heather Locklear shared one of those ambiguous stories this week — and later made a major clarification.
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On an episode of the podcast Fake Doctors, Real Friends with Scrubs stars Zach Braff and Donald Faison, Locklear reflected on her storied career and memories of some of her star-making projects. However, in the case of First Wives Club, she actually asked to have her name taken off the film due to how the role turned out!
She recalled:
“There was a couple of scenes that they cut out of me and then the only scene that I had, I had no lines and one of the actors — we were at a funeral — and he was supposed to take his hand and touch my breast. And they showed that… He actually touched more than that. It was kind of gross. So I just said, ‘Can you just take my name off the credits since now I don’t have any lines?’ … So it was creditless.”
Whoa, that was a big moment to just breeze by! And the hosts thought so, too!
In response to Braff’s shock that her only scene was having her breast grabbed, Locklear, who was already a starring on the hit series Melrose Place at the time of the film’s release, went further:
“He doesn’t grab it. He actually outlines my areola with his finger. It didn’t say that in the script! I was like [gasps]. And I’m so glad [the camera is] following his hand down because my face, my mouth is fallen open and I can’t believe it and don’t do it again. Just one take and let’s go.”
The scene is available on YouTube, though it’s a bootleg Italian dub, and you can see the moment for yourself:
The actress was clearly disappointed in the end result, as she expected more from the role. She explained:
“There was more to the part. I had filmed the bigger, bigger scenes and they just thought … I don’t know. Maybe I was bad in it.”
It’s a sad story all around, that she should be cut out like that, but it does happen.
However, after the podcast was released it was the groping allegation which grabbed a lot of headlines — ones with the phrase #MeToo in them. The co-star in question, James Naughton, released a statement on the incident; his rep told Yahoo Entertainment:
“James remembers shooting this scene as written in the script. He completely understands that Heather would have felt uncomfortable shooting this scene, as he felt uncomfortable as well.”
To top it off, Naughton’s camp shared the actual page from the script (check it out HERE). The scene clearly reads:
“Despite the grave facade, we see that Gil is subtly using his finger to feel Mary’s breast. Mary smiles at him shyly.”
So it seems it did say to do what he did in the script — kind of. The distinction comes with the interpretation.
This prompted the 58-year-old to clarify her comments on Instagram. Along with a screenshot of one of those headlines, she wrote:
“Oh no, I didn’t mean James Naughton did anything wrong. The script called for him to touch my breast. I was surprised that he circled my areola. We had not discussed the scene prior to filming. To be clear, I was never upset with James, just surprised. Love you James #pagesix”
Naughton’s rep gave another follow up statement to Page Six:
“From James: ‘Love you back, Heather.'”
So who is to blame? He may have been following the script, but it sure doesn’t sound like Naughton (or anyone else on the set for that matter) made sure Heather felt comfortable and prepared for the scene.
Not to throw anyone under the bus here, but in the case of any intimate contact on a movie set, the director (in this case Hugh Wilson, who passed away in 2018) is responsible for making sure all parties are on exactly the same page. Every actor should be able to state exactly what kinds of touching they’re comfortable with so no one feels “gross.”
We’re just glad this is something that is under much higher scrutiny these days.
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