Ashley Judd Says She Was Sexually Harassed by a Famous Studio Exec: It Was ''Incredibly Wrong and Illegal''

Actress opens up to Variety

Ashley Judd is candidly speaking about her personal experience with sexual harassment. 

In this week's Variety Women of Power issue, the 47-year-old actress reveals she was sexually harassed by a very famous studio exec, whom she chooses not to name. At the time of the incident, Judd was filming Paramount's Kiss the Girls in the late 90s, and she says the offender was from a rival studio. 

"I was sexually harassed by one of our industry's most famous, admired-slash-reviled bosses...and here I was, a declared feminist," she tells the publication. "I had completed a minor in what was then called women's studies...And yet I did not recognize at the time what was happening to me. It took years before I could evaluate that incident and realize that there was something incredibly wrong and illegal about it."

She continues, describing her various encounters with the studio mogul. "In my example, there was no casting involved...He was very stealth and expert about it. He groomed me, which is a technical term – Oh, come meet at the hotel for something to eat. Fine, I show up. Oh, he's actually in his room. I'm like, Are you kidding me? I just worked all night. I'm just going to order cereal. It went on in these stages," she recalled. "It was so disgusting. He physically lured me by saying, 'Oh, help me pick out what I'm going to wear.' There was a lot that happened between the point of entry and the bargaining."

Judd adds that many people will probably ask, "Why didn't you leave the room?" but the actress says that is simply "victim-blaming." 

"When I kept saying no to everything, there was a huge asymmetry of power and control in that room," she reveals. 

Judd, who has previously detailed her experiences with both incest and rape, goes on to allege that a number of actors were also on the receiving end of harassment by the same studio boss. "Part of the strategy that keeps girls and women constrained in their professional experiences is retaliation and ridicule," she says. 

"The ultimate thing when I was weaseling out of everything else was, 'Will you watch me take a shower?' And all the other women, sitting around this table with me, said, 'Oh my god—that's what he said to me too,'" Judd recalls. "In that moment, I told him something like, 'When I win an Academy Award in one of your movies.' He said, 'No, when you get nominated.' I said, 'No, no, when I win an Academy Award.' That was a small moment of power when I was able to contradict him and hold to my reality. And then I got out of there. And by the way, I've never been offered a movie by that studio. Ever."

While Judd admits her initial reaction was to "beat myself up," she was later able to gain a clear perspective on the incident. Years later, she confronted her offender. 

"I was no longer that naïve ingénue who couldn't identify what was happening as it was happening. I was getting ready to nail him on it, and he said, 'I think I'll let you out of that deal we made,'" she recalls. "He knew I would come into my power."

Judd concludes by noting that "this happened to be a man who did this to a woman. But this system is one that all of us participate." 

"We're all part of the problem, but we're all part of the solution," she says, adding, "Healing comes in a lot of different ways."

To read Judd's essay in full, head over to Variety.