Lena Headey has launched a scathing critique of Hollywood, accusing the industry of continuing to shield powerful men in ways reminiscent of the Harvey Weinstein era, as she warns that entrenched imbalances still leave young actresses exposed.
RadarOnline.com can reveal the Game of Thrones star, 52, made the remarks while promoting her BBC Radio 4 drama Intimacy, revisiting her past allegations against disgraced producer Weinstein and reflecting on how the #MeToo movement reshaped – but did not fully resolve – entertainment industry culture.
Headey, best known for playing Cersei Lannister in Game of Thrones and for roles in 300, The Brothers Grimm, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, and Dredd, pointed to the structural pressures facing early-career actors.
Weinstein, now imprisoned following s-x crime convictions in California, remains at the center of ongoing legal developments in New York.
A source familiar with Headey’s recent interviews claimed: “Lena is speaking from a place of long experience – she believes the industry still quietly insulates influential figures whose behavior would not be tolerated elsewhere. She sees a system where ambition and financial insecurity can be leveraged against younger performers, creating an environment where speaking out feels risky.” The source added: “She is particularly frustrated that progress has been uneven. While there is more awareness now, she feels some of the same dynamics persist beneath the surface, especially in situations involving power disparities on set.
“What has changed, in her view, is the confidence of younger actors – many are far more willing to push back and set limits, which she sees as one of the few genuinely positive shifts to come out of the past decade.”
Headey said in an interview with the Telegraph: “The weird protection that we offer predatory men in the business because of the disproportionate power they wield, set against the need among vulnerable actresses to work to put food on the table to get the job – it makes me very angry.”
She added: “A job can be completely soured by one person who, for some reason, is allowed to get away with it.”
Reflecting on the impact of #MeToo, she said: “It was only when the #MeToo movement erupted (in 2017) that we realised, ‘Oh, this is everywhere… .’
“I think most young women I speak to now in this business are so savvy. The attitude today is, ‘I’m not f—— doing that.'”
Headey first accused Weinstein in 2017 of sexual harassment, alleging he made inappropriate remarks while they were at the Venice Film Festival promoting The Brothers Grimm, before later inviting her to his hotel under the guise of discussing a script.
Recalling the alleged encounter, she said: “We walked to the lift, and the energy shifted. My whole body went into high alert. The lift was going up, and I said to Harvey, ‘I’m not interested in anything other than work, please don’t think I got in here with your any other reason, nothing is going to happen.’
“I don’t know what possessed me to speak out at that moment, only that I had such a strong sense of, ‘Don’t come near me.'”
Looking back on her early career, Headey described an environment in which intimate scenes were often treated as unavoidable for young actresses.
She said: “When I started out there was this rite of passage all young female actors had to go through, which usually involved snogging and falling in love, and having s-x and showing your boobs. They’d call them the ingenue parts, to make it sound nicer.”
She added: “But I just got on with it. I didn’t go to drama school, so I would just arrive on a set and be, ‘Oh my God, I’ve got a job.’
“And when it came to those moments, I don’t think I even questioned that I should be safe. Instead I’d go home and cry, or think, ‘Oh, that felt weird and too familiar.’
“Now I look back and feel, ‘Hmm, that was rough.'”
By the time she was cast in Game of Thrones, Headey said she had developed the confidence to assert boundaries more clearly, particularly during scenes involving nudity.
She said: “By that point I’d been through the wringer. I could stand up for myself.”
Reflecting on criticism after using a body double – enhanced with CGI – during Cersei’s “walk of shame” scene in Game of Thrones, she said: “I was really shocked by the anger, by this idea that I’d duped the audience. But by that point everyone knew (the cast), it was insane simply going anywhere, and I was with 3,000 extras. Acting is a joy, but it requires a lot of you. I wouldn’t have been able to do the emotional part of the job – I’d have been in full-on defensive mode.”