"I let them treat me a certain way because I felt like I was doing it for my career," the Oscar-winning performer revealed.
"When I was much younger and I was starting [my career], the producers of a movie told me to lose 15 pounds [about 7 kilos] in two weeks," Jennifer Lawrence revealed Monday night at a Hollywood women's event organized by Elle magazine in Los Angeles.
Today she is a renowned actress, with an Oscar and three other nominations for the most prestigious award in the industry, as well as she has also become one of the highest paid stars in cinema. But at a time when Hollywood is being hit by the starring the disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein, the 27-year-old interpreter has offered a speech to recount the "degrading" episodes she had to live through when she was trying to become a gap as an actress. She got her first role in a movie at the age of 18, when she worked in Garden Party, from 2008.
After saying that they asked her to lose weight, and knowing that an actress before her had been fired from her for not having lost weight fast enough, Lawrence who today promotes Mother! she had to live a degrading episode. “During that time, a female producer had me say a few lines [of a script] N- in a row with about five women who were much, much, skinnier than me. We were standing next to each other with only duct tape covering our private parts. After that humiliating and degrading moment, the female producer told me that I should use those photos as inspiration for my diet," Jennifer Lawrence revealed to the audience about a situation in which, she said, she felt "trapped." for his lack of power at the time: "I couldn't have gotten a producer or director fired."
Faced with those recommendations, she tried to tell another producer that they were not appropriate. She “she told me that she didn't know why everyone thought she was fat, he thought she was perfectly F-able”. “I allowed myself to be treated a certain way because I felt like I had to for my career. I was young and I walked that fine line of being true to myself without being described as difficult, which they did call me, but I think the word they used was nightmare," the actress confessed at an event that was precisely aims to give women greater visibility within the mecca of cinema. "I'm still learning that I don't have to smile when a man makes me feel uncomfortable. In a perfect world, every human being should have the power to be treated with respect, because they're human. But until we get to that, I'm going to lend my ears and go to any guy, girl, man or woman who doesn't feel like they can protect themselves."
“Together we will stop this type of behavior. We will stop normalizing these terrible situations. We will change the narrative for all those people who are chasing their dreams, ”she ended her speech as one of the eight women awarded the night by the publication.
Jennifer Lawrence has been encouraged to share this experience, although they are not her first words since it was revealed that Harvey Weinstein had S- abused actresses who were beginning their careers and employees of his production company, from which he has been fired. The actress, who worked with the producer five years ago, said in a statement that she had not been mistreated by him or had any prior notice of the accusations. “The type of abuse is inexcusable and terribly sad. My heart goes out to all those women affected by these disgusting acts. I want to thank her for her courage to take a step forward, ”added the interpreter.
“In Hollywood, I am obese. I am considered as a fat actress. But I'm never going to starve for a role. I'm still waiting for that role that challenges me enough to go on a diet, and it doesn't happen. I am invincible”, said Jennifer Lawrence in 2012. A subject that the protagonist of The Hunger Games spoke of again in an interview with Harper's Bazaar in 2016. According to what she said, society "has become so accustomed to being extremely thin that when someone "She's a normal weight, we're like, 'Oh, look at those curves.' That's absolutely crazy. We'd have to gain the minimum weight we think is okay. At least so I don't feel like the fattest one."
She also hasn't been the first to speak out about how producers and industry powerhouses put pressure on the physique. Karlie Kloss, former Victoria's Secret angel, successful model, New York University graduate in computer coding, and businesswoman has been through more or less the same thing. “They told me that she was too fat and that she was too skinny on the same day at different castings,” Kloss, who is 1.75 meters tall and weighs 57 kilos, said last June. "I am what in Hollywood is called very fat", is one of the phrases of the actress Amy Schumer's tour at the beginning of the year.
"Before I did anything, someone explained to me: 'Just so you know Amy, no pressure, but if you weigh about 65 kilos people will be disturbed by the eyes.' And I just bought it. It was like… Okay, I'm new in town. So I lost weight. She looked stupid skinny to me. My damn head was the same size and my body shriveled up and looked like a hot air balloon in a Thanksgiving parade. Nobody likes it. It doesn't look good on me, ”said the comedian during her show.
