Megyn Kelly calls out victim-shaming scene in 'Bombshell' but says, 'I do wish I had done more'
Megyn Kelly got emotional when talking about Roger Ailes and the sexual harassment she experienced at Fox News — especially when considering what she could have done differently.
On Thursday afternoon, the Megyn Kelly Presents host dropped the full 30-minute interview she did with her three former Fox News colleagues on her YouTube channel. Juliet Huddy and Rudi Bakhtiar, who worked as correspondents, and Julie Zann, a former associate producer in the Fox booking unit, watched Bombshell with Kelly and her husband, Douglas Brunt. Afterwards, Kelly led a discussion during which the group talked about what the film got right and wrong.
One scene between Kayla Pospisil, played by Margot Robbie, and Kelly, played by Charlize Theron, prompted a strong reaction from the real-life Kelly who called it "bulls***."
"They have the Kayla character find out I was harassed, you know when I was young in my career, and essentially, [Kayla] blames her harassment on me," Kelly explained to the group.
"It's funny, because I look at the #MeToo movement and at no point in my view did victim number 17 blame her harassment on victims one through 16," Kelly said. "That's not the way this movement has shaken out. Part of me — I saw that scene and I was like, 'That was written by a man.'"
She added, "Doug asked me, 'Would you take that scene out of the movie if you could?' And I said, 'No.' Because the truth is, that I've looked back on my own life, my own — every moment from that moment forward and I do wish I had done more."
(The screenplay was, in fact, written by a man.)
"Even though I was powerless, even though it would have been a suicidal move for me career wise," an emotional Kelly continued. "What if I had just said, 'Screw it. You know, I'll go back to practicing law. I don't need to have a career in this industry.'"
Tears started to well up in Kelly's eyes.
"What if I had thrown myself on the fire back then?" she said, looking at the women in front of her. "Maybe that wouldn't have happened to you."
Kelly's husband interjected and said the notion is "crazy" and that she would have "blown" herself "up for nothing."
Huddy, who accused former Fox News star Bill O'Reilly of harassment, chimed in saying the scene "shows a reality."
"I mean, that's what we all go through. That's why some of us kept our mouths shut about things," Huddy explained. "It really needs to be made very clear that even though Margot Robbie's character walked off... she probably never got a job again."
"Or she's like, 'What will it be like at the next place?'" Kelly noted. "I mean, I can tell you having gone from Fox to NBC, it's going to be very much like the last place."
"When I watched that scene I immediately thought this is shameful because it's unfactual and it is victim shaming and if this is a movie about sexual harassment, it's sending the wrong message," Zann shared. "And that's what they don't have right in the miniseries or this film is that you were a real support system and I know it wasn't just me, it was a lot of other people."
Zann, who claims she was also harassed by Ailes, staunchly defended Kelly whom she found to be very supportive.
"When I watched that scene I immediately thought this is shameful because it's un-factual and it is victim shaming and if this is a movie about sexual harassment, it's sending the wrong message," she explained. "And that's what they don't have right in the [Showtime] miniseries [The Loudest Voice] or this film, is that you were a real support system and I know it wasn't just me, it was a lot of other people."
At an earlier point in their discussion, Kelly pointed out a couple of other moments in Bombshell that were "not true." She said the movie got several things wrong when covering the feud between her and President Trump, which started at the 2015 Republican Primary Debate.
"They suggested that I had run my debate question for Trump by the Murdochs. That's a fantasy. I never ran it by Ailes or the Murdochs or anyone other than my debate team, so that was not true," she stated. "The notion that Roger liked the Donald Trump women question because it created controversy and a TV moment was not true. Roger did not like the question at all and was very angry at me for asking it and at one point even said to me, 'No more female empowerment stuff.'"
As for Theron's performance, Kelly said she's "too close" to the whole situation to comment on it, but called the actress "incredibly talented."
"It's just too weird to see somebody who looks just like you on the screen pretending to be you," she said.
However, Kelly's husband was less impressed — he called Theron's performance "a little one-dimensional."
Read more from Yahoo Entertainment:
Want daily pop culture news delivered to your inbox? Sign up here for Yahoo Entertainment & Lifestyle’s newsletter.
