Ashley Judd opened up to Variety this week about an incident in the '90s in which she was sexually harassed by a rival studio executive while filming the movie "Kiss the Girls" for Paramount.
Judd, a Golden Globe and Emmy nominated actress, told her story as part of Variety's "Power of Women" issue. She claims the film mogul invited her to his hotel room to talk about movie roles and then proceeded to try and get her to watch him take a shower.
"I had completed a minor in what was then called women's studies, which we now call gender studies," Judd told Variety. "And yet I did not recognize at the time what was happening to me. It took years before I could evaluate that incident and realize that there was something incredibly wrong and illegal about it."
Judd said the relationship began innocently enough, but then the executive, who she declined to mention by name, began upping the ante in what she called "stages."
"In my example, there was no casting involved," Judd told Variety. "This was just twirling the lasso. I think it's very important to note that I considered myself empowered. He was very stealth and expert about it. He groomed me, which is a technical term."
Once she arrived at the hotel, she was surprised when the executive then asked her to come to his room.
"He physically lured me by saying, 'Oh, help me pick out what I’m going to wear.' There was a lot that happened between the point of entry and the bargaining. There was this whole process of bargaining — 'Come do this, come do this, come do this,'" she said.
Judd said she eventually managed to leave the room physically unscathed, but then beat herself up because she did not take stronger action. She said feels stronger now about the way she left.
Judd, who costarred in 2014's "Divergent" and its sequel "Insurgent" this year, also flirted with entering the field of politics in her home state of Kentucky but opted not to challenge U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell for his
Congressional seat, according to TV Guide.
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