Anna Faris has also personally experienced sexual harassment in Hollywood.
The Mom star recalled on Tuesday’s episode of her Unqualified podcast how the vulgar behavior of a director (whom she left unnamed) made her “feel small.”
“I was doing a scene where I was on a ladder and I was supposed to be taking books off a shelf and he slapped my ass in front of the crew so hard. And all I could do was giggle,” she said. “I remember looking around and I remember seeing the crewmembers being like, ‘Wait, what are you going to do about that? That seemed weird….’ And that’s how I dismissed it. I was like, ‘Well, this isn’t a thing. Like, it’s not that big of a deal. Buck up, Faris. Like, just giggle.’ But it made me feel small. He wouldn’t have done that to the lead male.”
Faris, who was joined by guest Arielle Kebbel on the episode, also added how she suspects she got that role. “I remember that same director telling my agent, who told me, that I had great legs and that was one of the reasons that I got hired. And listen, that’s a fucking great compliment. I like my legs. But that sort of informed my whole experience with that whole project. I don’t think the male lead got hired because he had great legs. Therefore I felt like I’m hired because of these elements — not because of [talent].”
Why didn’t she say anything? When it comes to the sexual harassment of women, said Faris, “We’re conditioned to giggle. But also, if we were to do anything else, we’d be labeled a bitch or difficult. That would be the best of circumstances. I guess what I do is I laugh. It puts everyone at ease. That’s the defense mode you go into.”
Faris joins the chorus of celebrities who have shared their stories of sexual harassment and assault since the New York Times and New Yorker exposés on Harvey Weinstein were published earlier this month. While some accounts have left the harasser unnamed, others have gone public with their experiences with Amazon Studios’ Roy Price, director James Toback, Loud House series creator Chris Savino and APA agent Tyler Grasham.
Listen to the Unqualified episode below.
