Ashley Judd, Rose McGowan and Other 'Silence Breakers' Share 'Time' Magazine's 'Person of the Year' Title
Time magazine's Person of the Year annual issue is recognizing all the women and men that have come forward this year to share their stories of sexual harassment and sexual assault.
Of the people hailed as "Silence Breakers" are Rose McGowan, Megyn Kelly and Alyssa Milano, along with Ashley Judd and Taylor Swift, who share the cover with Susan Fowler, Adama Iwu and Isabel Pascual.
In the issue, Judd opens up about disclosing to The New York Times in an expose released in October that she was sexually harassed by former movie mogul Harvey Weinstein at a Beverly Hills hotel.
"I started talking about Harvey the minute that it happened," Judd recalls to Time. "Literally, I exited that hotel room at the Peninsula Hotel in 1997 and came straight downstairs to the lobby, where my dad was waiting for me, because he happened to be in Los Angeles from Kentucky, visiting me on the set. And he could tell by my face -- to use his words-- that something devastating had happened to me. I told him. I told everyone."
She adds, "Were we supposed to call some fantasy attorney general of moviedom? There wasn't a place for us to report these experiences."
McGowan -- who has accused Weinstein of rape -- tells the magazine that now is the time to speak up. "We're running out of time," she says. "I don't have time to play nice."
The 44-year-old actress further proclaims, "Why not fight back? What else are we doing?"
"The number of people sharing their stories with me is so intense, especially since all of this is incredibly triggering for me as well," McGowan continues. "People forget a lot that there’s a human behind this, someone who is very hurt. But that’s OK, it fuels my fire. They really f**ked with the wrong person."
As for Kelly, who's opened up on several occasions about her own experience with sexual harassment, admits, "I always thought maybe things could change for my daughter. I never thought things could change for me."
The Megyn Kelly Today host proposes, "What if we did complain? What if we didn't whine, but we spoke our truth in our strongest voices and insisted that those around us did better? What if that worked to change reality right now?"
Terry Crews is also featured in the Times piece, which was released a day after news broke that the actor was suing Hollywood agent Adam Venit for alleged assault and sexual harassment.
"Why are you questioning the victim here? Let's flip it," he tells the publication. "Let's talk about what the predator is doing."
After hearing McGowan's story, Milano -- her former Charmed co-star -- reignited the #MeToo campaign on social media where droves of women started socialing the hashtag to share that they too had been sexually harassed at some point in their lives.
"It's affected me on a cellular level to hear all these stories. I don't know if I'll ever be the same. I have not stopped crying," Milano says. "I look at my daughter and think, 'Please, let this be worth it. Please, let it be that my daughter never has to go through anything like this.'"
In addition to these silence breakers, a number of other women recently came forward accusing former Today show host Matt Lauer of sexual misconduct.
Here's more on those allegations:
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