Bardot: Hypocritical actresses f lirt to win roles … then claim harassment
BRIGITTE Bardot has criticised ‘hypocritical’ actresses for flirting with film bosses and then claiming to have been sexually harassed.
The Fifties and Sixties sex symbol said she was never a victim and found remarks about her appearance ‘nice’.
Asked about stars denouncing sex abuse in the film industry, the 83- year- old French actress said: ‘In the vast majority of cases they are being hypocritical, ridiculous, uninteresting. There are many actresses who flirt with producers in order to get a role. Then, in order to be talked about, they will say they have been harassed.
‘In reality, rather than benefiting them, it harms them.’
Miss Bardot said she enjoyed the attention she received when she was younger, telling French magazine Paris Match: ‘I was never the victim of sexual harassment and I found it charming when I was told that I was beautiful or I had a nice little backside. This kind of compliment is nice.’ Miss Bardot, who quit acting in 1973, was famous for her love life.
Married four times, she is thought to have had more than 100 male and female lovers.
Her comments come after another veteran French actress, Catherine Deneuve, 74, condemned the #MeToo anti-harassment campaign, which has seen stars use the hashtag to share stories of sexism and abuse, as a ‘witch-hunt’.
Miss Deneuve was backed by new Baftas host Joanna Lumley, 71, who said she reluctantly kowtowed to peer pressure by wearing black at last week’s Bafta nominations – a statement of protest against sexual assault and abuse in the industry. She said: ‘You knew that if you weren’t wearing black, you were virtually saying, “I am Harvey Weinstein”. So I think we’re all going to be in black; everyone will be in black out of terror.’
Miss Deneuve was one of 100 women to sign a letter denouncing the ‘puritanism’ since the sex abuse allegations against Hollywood mogul Weinstein. She later apologised.
‘Nice to be told I was beautiful’