Yahoo Movies Pamela Anderson defends controversial 2017 comments about #MeToo and feminism
Pamela Anderson has addressed the backlash surrounding her controversial 2017 comments about #MeToo amidst the reckoning in Hollywood.
In conversation for Interview Magazine, journalist Ronan Farrow revisited Anderson's previous comments to Today host Megyn Kelly about Harvey Weinstein ("You know what you're getting into when you go to a hotel room alone") and asked her if she thought it was a "healthy thought to introduce into the dialogue" at the time. While her views on #MeToo have appeared to change, Anderson defended her comments.
"I could even take it a step further. My mother would tell me — and I think this is the kind of feminism I grew up with — it takes two to tango," the Baywatch star said. "Believe me, I've been in many situations where it's like, 'Come in here little girl, sit on the bed.' But my mom would say, 'If someone answers the door in a hotel robe and you're going for an interview, don't go in. But if you do go in, get the job.'"
Stephane Cardinale - Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images Pamela Anderson
"That's a horrible thing to say but that's how I was," Anderson said. "I skated on the edges of destruction, I just had this sense of value and self worth. But I think a lot of people don't have that or they weren't taught that."
Anderson, who has been candid about her experiences with childhood sexual abuse, sparked backlash during the interview with Kelly when discussing the allegations against Weinstein. "Don't go into a hotel room alone. If someone answers the door in a bathrobe, leave," she said. "It was common knowledge that certain producers or certain people in Hollywood are people to avoid, privately. You know what you're getting into if you're going into a hotel room alone."
She added that Weinstein accusers should have met with him alongside assistants or agents. "I just think there's easy ways to remedy that," Anderson said. "That's not a good excuse." Anderson courted more controversy the following year, when she said that "feminism can go too far."
"I'm a feminist, but I think that this third wave of feminism is a bore," she said. "I think it paralyzes men. I think that this #MeToo movement is a bit too much for me. I'm sorry, I'll probably get killed for saying that."
Anderson clarified that she now supports the movement. She told Farrow, "Thank god for the #MeToo movement because things have changed and people are much more careful and respectful."
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