Reese Witherspoon is the latest celebrity to come forward with a story of sexual harassment in Hollywood. The Legally Blond star was speaking at the Elle Women in Hollywood event when she revealed that she was assaulted for the first time aged just 16.
Witherspoon said she was made to feel like keeping silent about the sexual assault was part of her contract and she feared losing work. ‘I feel true disgust at the director who assaulted me when I was 16-years-old and anger at the agents and the producers who made me feel that silence was a condition of my employment.’
The star also admitted that this was not an isolated incident and that it had occurred many times throughout her career. ‘I’ve had multiple experiences of harassment and sexual assault, and I don’t speak about them very often.’ Witherspoon was speaking to the audience at the event which also included her young daughter.
The speech was a damning account of the culture in Hollywood, with Witherspoon suggesting that it had revealed many ‘ugly truths’ about the industry. ‘This has been a really hard week for women in Hollywood, for women all over the world, and a lot of situations and a lot of industries are forced to remember and relive a lot of ugly truths.’