Jessica Alba has spoken openly about how she has experienced sexual harassment “all the time” in her acting career.
Having been an actress since the age of 12 she came to see the harassment as normal saying, “that’s the way you were going to be treated”.
She revealed to CNN’s Talk Asia programme that she would have loved to have more female mentors throughout her career.
The actress detailed her experiences of sexual harassment in the industry, which she has been a part of since she was a child.
“Oh yeah, of course I have. Yeah. All the time along the way.”
“I don’t know, I guess you shouldn’t have accepted it, but, as a young actress growing up in the business, you just accepted that that’s the way you were going to be treated.”
“You could either go this way or that way with it and do I think I could’ve gotten some opportunities if I would’ve done this versus that?”
“Sure, but for me, that’s just not something I was comfortable with, frankly … I mean, I’ve been doing this since I was 12.”
“Imagine, imagine what that’s like,” she exclaimed.
She believed it was “about time” for the #MeToo movement, which has seen women break their silence about sexual harassment leading to the downfall of media moguls like the disgraced Harvey Weinstein.
“I think things have been imbalanced for way too long and I think it’s about time.”
“No-one gave me a handout. No-one gave me an opportunity.”
“I had to fight for it, but it would be nice if I had some people who helped me along the way and I didn’t have to fall on my face so much, and it would’ve been also nice to have more women mentor me and help me along the way.”
Now a mother-of-three she expressed how her experiences have shaped how she teaches her daughters about taking control of their bodies.
“There’s warning signs and there’s that feeling in your stomach and you have to listen to that feeling,” she divulged to the host Anna Coren.
She also spoke about how she hopes the film industry will become more diverse both “behind the camera and in front of the camera”.
