While speaking about the rise of the #MeToo movement with journalist Tina Brown at the 2019 Women in World Summit in New York, actress Priyanka Chopra had to respond to a question whether she had ever faced sexual harassment herself.
“Everybody in this room has probably faced one because it had become a norm with women”, she said without going into further details.
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The Bollywood-turned-Hollywood diva highlighted women empowerment, and said that it’s an “incredibly powerful thing to see” how women courageously speak about their unwanted experience.
“We always had a voice. Just nobody heard us. Now because of the support we are giving each other, people don’t have the power to shut us down. And that’s an incredibly powerful thing to see. Now if I have a story I don’t feel I’m alone anymore – and I’m not ashamed of it”, she said.
At the height of the Harvey Weinstein scandal two years ago, Priyanka discussed how sexual harassment works at the Marie Claire Power Trip:
“I don’t think there is only a Harvey Weinstein in Hollywood. I think there will be a lot more stories that will come up. That happens not just in India, but all over the world. It’s the power of men trying to take away the power of women. It’s about feeling powerful and macho. We watch the news and look for things that will be positive and that the world will be in a better place. But the reality is, the world is not. It’s not just about sexuality. It’s not about sex. It’s about power”, she said.
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She then likened Hollywood to a “big boys’ club”, where women are intimidated and boycotted so that they feel “completely afraid and completely alone”.
“It’s an isolating feeling. The easiest thing to take away from a woman is her work”.
The #MeToo movement gained momentum in October 2017 after revelations of alleged sexual misconduct against influential film producer Harvey Weinstein. The hashtag #MeToo was launched on social media to embolden women to speak publicly about their experience of sexual abuse.