Oscar-winning actor Natalie Portman said when allegations of sexual harassment began engulfing Hollywood, she was forced to reflect on if she was also one of the victims only to realise that she had "100 stories" of her own to tell.
The 36-year-old actor said she was initially sure that she was not among the hundreds of men and women, who had come forward with their experiences of suffering sexual misconduct.
"When I heard everything coming out, I was like, wow, I'm so lucky that I haven't had this. And then, on reflection, I was like, okay, definitely never been assaulted, definitely not, but I've had discrimination or harassment on almost everything I've ever worked on in some way.
"I went from thinking I don't have a story to thinking, Oh wait, I have 100 stories. And I think a lot of people are having these reckonings with themselves, of things that we just took for granted as like, this is part of the process," Portman said during a candid talk at Vulture Festival here.
The "Jackie" actor recalled that a producer had once propositioned her to fly with him and his company on a private plane to a place she was also headed.
"I showed up and it was just the two of us, and one bed was made on the plane. Nothing happened, I was not assaulted. I said: 'This doesn't make me feel comfortable,' and that was respected. But that was super not okay, you know?
"That was really unacceptable and manipulative and could have been - I was scared, you know? But just the fact of any woman, if you're walking down the street alone at night, you feel scared, and I'm not sure guys know what that (feels like)," she said.
Portman added, in her initial days in Hollywood, she declined to do the roles that could lead to her being objectified.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
