MOLLY RINGWALD WRITES ‘WE ALL SEEM TO HAVE A HARVEY STORY’ IN PERSONAL ESSAY
by Elaina Finkelstein/ABC7 Wednesday, October 25th 2017
WASHINGTON (ABC7) — The New Yorker posted a personal essay written by Molly Ringwald discussing her secret sexual harassment by men in Hollywood.
After many actresses came out to discuss their experiences with Harvey Weinstein, Ringwald says in her essay, “We all seem to have a Harvey story, each one a little different but with essentially the same nauseating pattern and theme.”
Although Ringwald’s story about Weinstein does not involve massages or occasions in his hotel room, she alludes to being photoshopped for a film’s movie poster.
“He also changed the poster: he had my head stuck onto another body, dressed in a form-fitting, nineteen-fifties-pinup-style dress, with a hand reaching out to accept a diamond, like Marilyn Monroe in ‘Gentlemen Prefer Blondes’”, Ringwald wrote, “I wouldn’t have posed for a picture like that, since it had nothing to do with the character I portrayed; it struck me as ridiculous false advertising.”
In addition to the poster, Ringwald admits to suing Weinstein and the film company after not receiving the percentage they owed her for the film.
“I ended up suing them for the money, which I got, and I never worked with Harvey or the company again,” Ringwald explained.
In the personal essay, Ringwald also discussed other times she had been harassed by men in the industry.
“When I was thirteen, a fifty-year-old crew member told me that he would teach me to dance, and then proceeded to push against me with an erection,” Ringwald admits.
She also explained a time where a film director forced himself on her, “When I was fourteen, a married film director stuck his tongue in my mouth on set.”
Another incident she writes about was during an audition where she says the director made the lead actor put on a dog collar around her neck.
“This was not remotely in the pages I had studied; I could not even fathom how it made sense in the story. The actor was a friend of mine, and I looked in his eyes with panic,” according to Ringwald, “He looked back at me with an “I’m really sorry” expression on his face as his hands reached out toward my neck. I don’t know if the collar ever made it on me, because that’s the closest I’ve had to an out-of-body experience.”
She further explains how she ran to the parking lot sobbing after finishing the audition.
Ringwald concludes by explaining how these were just a couple of stories, and that if she continued they would all sounds repetitive.
Ringwald writes, “My hope is that Hollywood makes itself an example and decides to enact real change, change that would allow women of all ages and ethnicities the freedom to tell their stories—to write them and direct them and trust that people care.”