British actress Ruth Wilson, known for her roles in Luther and The Affair, called out Hollywood’s #MeToo hypocrisy in a recent interview with the Guardian.
Wilson recalled the downfall of Harvey Weinstein and how it led to an industry-wide shift in attitudes.
“Extraordinary … to actually witness Hollywood shift like that,” said Wilson. “To see the survival instinct. You realize how fickle that industry is. There’s no moral backbone. People were like: ‘We’re going to have a meeting about how badly we’ve behaved and then we’ll all be fine.’ It blew my mind.”
“It made me understand a whole swathe of human behavior. So many people don’t really believe anything – only what makes them money … They’re opportunists. You see that. But it makes you sage about what you want, what’s important,” she added.
Wilson recalled how she left The Affair due to her disagreements over the sex scenes she had to routinely perform, which led to friction with showrunner, Sarah Treem. Wilson said that she was “not allowed” to speak about the departure in 2018 and had to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA). Treem said that she had “everything I could think of to make [Wilson] feel comfortable with these scenes.”
British actress Ruth Wilson poses with his medal after being appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) during an investiture ceremony at Buckingham Palace, in London, on May 4, 2022. (DOMINIC LIPINSKI/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
“I would never say those things to an actor. That’s not who I am. I am not a manipulative person, and I’ve always been a feminist,” said Treem.
Wilson denounced the idea of NDAs.
“I don’t think there should be any NDAs. If there’s a problem, there’s a problem. It needs to be dealt with, not put under NDA so you can’t speak about it,” she said.
President Joe Biden signed a law in 2022 that would attempt to curtail some of the restrictions outlined in NDAs.
“Instead of protecting trade secrets as it was initially intended, abusive use of NDAs silence employees and covers up serious and systemic misconduct,” said New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D) when introducing the measure.
Paul Roland Bois joined Breitbart News in 2021. He also directed the award-winning feature film, EXEMPLUM, which can be viewed on Tubi, Google Play, YouTube Movies, or VIMEO On Demand. Follow him on Twitter @prolandfilms or Instagram @prolandfilms.