Megan Fox worried she wouldn't be seen as 'sympathetic victim' in #MeToo movement
Megan Fox didn’t join other Hollywood stars in speaking out about the #MeToo movement, but the Transformers actress recently explained that’s because the public has never viewed her as “relatable or likable.”
“I just didn’t think based on how I’d been received by people, and by feminists, that I would be a sympathetic victim,” Fox told the New York Times in an interview published Friday. “And I thought if ever there were a time where the world would agree that it’s appropriate to victim-shame someone, it would be when I come forward with my story.”
The 32-year-old said she has “quite a few stories” that she could have spoken out about as women around the country shed light on the pervasiveness of sexual harassment.
In 2009, Fox described her frustrations with director Michael Bay giving her directions on set to “be hot” or “be sexy” in an interview with Wonderland magazine. But she also said Bay “wants to be like Hitler on his sets,” which garnered a lot of outrage and inevitably became the main takeaway from the article. The same year, she told Jimmy Kimmel that on the set of Bad Boys II, when she was 15, Bay directed her to dance under a waterfall in a bikini and 6-inch heels.
As The Mary Sue noted in an article published last year, Fox was largely criticized and ostracized for feminist comments that would be applauded today. “Fox was too outspoken for the era,” author Princess Weekes wrote.
But based on her silence about the #MeToo movement, it seems she decided to stop speaking out because her remarks weren’t being received well.
“I don’t want to say this about myself, but let’s say that I was ahead of my time and so people weren’t able to understand. Instead, I was rejected because of qualities that are now being praised in other women coming forward,” she told the New York Times. Fox added that, because of her experience, she feels like she’ll “always be just out of the collective understanding.”
“I don’t know if there will ever be a time where I’m considered normal or relatable or likable,” she told the Times.
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