Anna Faris Says She Was Sexually Harassed by a Director On Set: 'He Slapped My A**'
Anna Faris is the latest celebrity to speak out on sexual harassment.
On the newest episode of her Unqualified podcast, the 40-year-old actress alleges that a director inappropriately touched her while on set of a movie. "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,” she recalls. “And all I could do was giggle."
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While Faris says she attempted to laugh off the director's behavior, that was not how she was feeling on the inside. "I remember looking around and I remember seeing the crew members being like, ‘Wait, what are you going to do about that? That seemed weird,’" she continues. "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 UnReal and Ballers actress Arielle Kebbel, notes that she thinks women are "conditioned to giggle" in these types of situations.
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"If we were to do anything else, we’d be labeled a b**ch or difficult," she says. "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 also claims the director made some comments about her appearance even before she landed the 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,” she remembers. “And listen, that’s a f**king great compliment. I like my legs. But that sort of informed my whole experience with that whole project."
She adds, "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].”
In August, after announcing her split from Chris Pratt, the House Bunny star also about the need for respect when giving a caller some relationship advice during an episode of her podcast.
“Life is too short for you to be in relationships where you are not feeling like this isn’t fully right or somebody doesn’t have your back, or somebody doesn’t fully value you in every way,” she said to the caller, who shared her insecurities about the way her boyfriend’s coworker teases him about being in a relationship. “Don’t be afraid to feel your independence if things aren’t right.”
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