Celebrities are supposed to be like me and you right, except they have more money than our five-year salary combined. They eat exquisite food, live in mansions and wear exclusive dresses custom made from a renowned fashion designer. Yet it turns out, they started their career with a nightmare. This has been a silent issue for years, that is until recently, a few celebrities have broken their silence in an interview with Time Magazine and had been awarded by the magazine as the Person of the Year, with the title “The Silence Breakers”.
Hollywood and mostly, we were shocked by allegations against film director mogul, Harvey Weinstein which first came to light in a New York Times article. Since the story aired, many women have come out and spoken of the incident revolving how either Harvey has sexually harassed or assaulted. Weinstein denied the allegations, but the levers that he had long pulled to exert his influence suddenly were jammed. Fellow chieftains refused to defend him. Politicians who once courted him gave away his donations. His company’s board fired him.
Ashley Judd and Harvey Weinstein
For example, Ashley Judd, a movie star- who is on the cover of the magazine- spoke of the night where it all went down with Weinstein. According to Time Magazine, back in 1997, just before Ashley Judd’s career took off, she was invited to a meeting with Harvey Weinstein, head of the star-making studio Miramax, at a Beverly Hills hotel. Astounded and offended by Weinstein’s attempt to coerce her into bed, Judd managed to escape. Instead of keeping quiet, she began spreading the word out about his demeanour. Same goes to actress Rose McGowan who broke her silence.
“We have to keep our focus on people of different class and race and gender,” says Burke,
Left – Rose McGowan and right- Tamara Burke at the Women’s Convention in Detroit
This is the voices that launch a movement. #MeToo hashtag was first used more than a decade ago by social activist Tarana Burke as part of her work building solidarity among young survivors of harassment and assault. A friend of Burke, actress Alyssa Milano twitted “If you’ve been sexually harassed or assaulted write ‘me too’ as a reply to this tweet,” she wrote, and then went to sleep. She woke up the next day to find that more than 30,000 people had used #MeToo. Milano burst into tears.
Taylor Swift falls under sexual abuse victim where she was harassed by a Denver radio DJ named David Mueller who reached under her skirt and started grabbing for her rear end. She took this battle to court and has since won her trial, claiming $1 and sending a message about the consequences of harassment.
Actor, Terry Crews also came out on the issue of being a victim of groping whereby he sued a Hollywood agency when he was groped at a 2016 party. He claimed agent Adam Venit grabbed his genitals, but the company ignored his “bizarre behaviour”. Crews is the lone male featured in Time Magazine’s Person of the Year issue honouring sex-harassment accusers.
It’s time for everyone to voice out on this matter and to let justice unveil. For more information on this matter, please visit Time Magazine’s write-up here.