Unlikely forum on sexual assault

Stars share their experiences during Elle’s Women in Hollywood gala.

On a night that was supposed to be a celebration of empowerment, Elle magazine’s Women in Hollywood gala turned into an evening of shared stories about sexual assault and harassment.

At the event Monday in Beverly Hills, actresses such as Jennifer Lawrence, Reese Witherspoon and Lake Bell were up front about their experiences in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal.

“I think every woman in here has experienced some version of sexual harassment or assault or rape,” Bell said on the red carpet.

Diane Ladd spoke of an assault by the late Harry Cohn, the then-president of Columbia Pictures, who she said groped her inner thigh when she was 17. “I picked up his hand and I threw it aside,” she said. “And he laughed, got up to walk away and said, ‘Kid, you’ll never be a star like that.’ So I went on to New York, and I have fought most of my life to make this industry better for the next generation.”

Witherspoon spoke of a director who assaulted her when she was 16 and “made me feel that silence was a condition of my employment.”

Producer and Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy implored the industry to convene a commission “charged with the task of developing new industry-wide protections against sexual harassment and abuse.”

“Predators must come to feel that they can’t count on power or wealth or fame to shield them from the consequences of their actions,” Kennedy said.

The gala was in honor of the cover stars of Elle’s November issue: Lawrence, Kennedy, Cicely Tyson, Tessa Thompson, Margot Robbie, Riley Keough, Jessica Chastain and Laura Dern.