Hollywood's dark secrets revealed! Join us as we explore powerful moments when celebrities bravely spoke out against sexism in the entertainment industry, exposing the challenges women face behind the scenes.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00God knows, the questions that are posed to women so often are not only offensive, but
00:04it's like these dinosaur ethics.
00:06Welcome to Miss Mojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the moments when stars
00:10drew back the curtain on the pressures women face in the Hollywood ecosystem.
00:15I had a friend who said, yeah, but Viola, your career is better than my career.
00:18I said, yeah, but you can't compare me to you.
00:21Number 10, Zoe Saldana.
00:24Turn on the TV, just read the newspaper.
00:27All the CEOs are primarily males.
00:29Art is primarily male-driven.
00:31For years, the Emilia Perez star has been vocal about her experience in the entertainment
00:36industry, but some of her most damning and sad comments about sexism on set were recorded
00:40in a 2017 interview with Time magazine.
00:43There are a lot of things to say about being a woman on a set full of men, but Zoe Saldana
00:47singled out the loneliness that she feels.
00:50It's like, shut up.
00:51Yeah.
00:52Why aren't you happy?
00:53Why can't you just be more like every girl?
00:56Why do you always have to try to be a man?
01:00It's not even about that.
01:01It's not even trying to be a man.
01:02I know.
01:03It's about trying to feel significant, trying to feel equal.
01:06Even if a woman is producing, Saldana says that she's seen them buddy up with the men
01:09to try and fit in.
01:10It certainly paints a bleak picture in terms of numbers, even if there are one or two women
01:15in the positions of power on a production.
01:17There are women, but the fact that we're just so scarce, is that the word?
01:22Yeah.
01:23It lets you know that logically there's an imbalance, and it has to do with trusting
01:29leadership in women.
01:31Number nine, Michelle Yeoh.
01:32She may be one of the world's most accomplished stars of martial arts films, but there was
01:36one beloved actor who refused to recognize her talents, at least at first.
01:40He was really excited, you know, coming back to Hong Kong, going to do an action film until
01:44he found out that it was going to be this beauty queen from Malaysia.
01:51Michelle Yeoh entered the world of martial arts movies when Jackie Chan was a huge star,
01:55when women were ornamental and needed saving.
01:58But Yeoh's appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman in 1997 drew some boos from
02:03the audience when she was up front about Chan's sexism.
02:06Is he the one that got you into this particular genre?
02:08Pardon the French there.
02:09No, actually he's a male chauvinistic pig.
02:12He, he always says...
02:15That'll sell tickets for him, won't it?
02:18No, no, no, no, no, no.
02:19Jackie and I are very good friends.
02:20I say this to it, you know, to his face.
02:23Despite some of his retrograde ideas, even Yeoh admits that Chan's too scared of her
02:27fighting prowess to tell her to stay in the kitchen.
02:30He does say it.
02:31If you were to ask him, he'd say, I'm only two women I'm afraid of.
02:34One of them is Michelle.
02:35Number eight, Mindy Kaling.
02:37I remember being terrified and silent for most of the first season.
02:42Oh, really?
02:43But if you ask any of those guys, they were like, you were not terrified and silent at
02:46all.
02:47You were expressing your opinions loudly, constantly.
02:49Although she became known for her role as the vain and serially romantic Kelly Kapoor,
02:54Mindy Kaling was also one of The Office's original writers.
02:56In fact, there was a point when she was the only woman on the writing and producing staff.
03:01I remember feeling like so left out and being like, oh, so this is the old boys club that
03:04they always tell you about.
03:05Right.
03:06And I'm witnessing it.
03:07It was very exciting, but I was also like friendless and living in a terrible apartment
03:11on Fountain that cost like $800 a month.
03:13It was covered in mold.
03:14When it came time to submit the show for Emmy consideration, the Television Academy forced
03:19her to write an essay to prove her place among the show's producers.
03:23This was ostensibly due to the fact that there were too many producer names submitted for
03:27the awards.
03:28However, as she told Elle magazine in 2019, none of her male colleagues were forced to
03:32do the same.
03:33You know what?
03:34I thought I had hit rock bottom, but we managed to find a new sub-basement.
03:37So yeah, let's do this.
03:38Let's do this.
03:39This is my life now.
03:40Number seven, Jennifer Lawrence.
03:42There's almost a gender bias that we, as women, I can only speak as a woman as I've never
03:46been a man, but as a woman, we almost put this gender bias in ourselves, maybe, possibly.
03:53That's why I wanted to just open up and say, I feel this way.
03:56After the huge Sony hack in 2014, many uncomfortable truths about the gender pay gap in Hollywood
04:01came to light.
04:02One of these sticking points was the revelation that American Hustle stars Amy Adams and Jennifer
04:07Lawrence were paid way less than their male co-stars Christian Bale and Bradley Cooper.
04:12This pay gap apparently didn't even take into account their respective billing or screen
04:16time.
04:17Spend as much or as little time with them as you like, but we do have to deal with them.
04:20All we gotta do is go say hello.
04:21We just gotta say hi.
04:22And maybe, maybe not.
04:23I'm not sure.
04:24That's just a good idea.
04:25Lawrence penned an op-ed in response, expressing her frustration.
04:29However, she would add that women are not just underpaid in the industry, but largely
04:32discouraged in many ways from negotiating and advocating for themselves.
04:37On average, women are paid 21% less than men.
04:40We can ask for the same exact thing that men do.
04:45And we do face the reality that we do get judged more.
04:516.
04:52Rose McGowan
04:53They gave the okay at Bun & Murray, the production company, they gave the green light to it before
04:59the stories came out.
05:00And I just said, something really big is going to happen, you have to trust me.
05:03The Harvey Weinstein scandal and subsequent Hashtag Me Too movement sent shockwaves through
05:08Hollywood.
05:09Of course, Rose McGowan was one of the people leading the charge.
05:12Her 2018 memoir Brave and documentary miniseries Citizen Rose went in-depth on her experiences
05:19in an industry rampant with predatory men and enablers.
05:22I knew others were out there.
05:24And I knew it was a lot of us.
05:25It was the progression of Cosby, Ailes, nobody believed that it would change the world.
05:32Her approach and tone drew as much controversy as they did praise.
05:36Weinstein was not the only powerful man that she had a run-in with, when she used her voice
05:40to amplify her own story and the stories of other women who were victimized by violent
05:44misogyny.
05:45When I shaved my head, the side effect was that people could hear me for the first time.
05:48So I wanted to see if women could be heard without having to shave their heads.
05:515.
05:52Mila Kunis
05:53I'm feeling a little overdressed, so if you maybe have something that I could change into,
05:58by myself, while I'm awake.
06:01The former That 70s Show star says that she's actually heard the line,
06:05In an online essay from 2016, Mila Kunis detailed her experience with a film producer
06:13who wanted her to pose partially nude in a magazine spread.
06:17Apparently, the producer was shocked, appalled, and offended to hear her response.
06:21It was a no.
06:22You know what?
06:23You and I should stay friends.
06:24Really?
06:25No, go f*** yourself.
06:26Writing of his fury at her refusal, she took a nuanced but empowering stance, saying the
06:31event made her more likely to stand up for herself in the future when faced with sexist
06:36treatment.
06:37The person I love most is me.
06:42I love me most.
06:434.
06:44Maggie Gyllenhaal
06:45Sexist things would happen all the time in my life, and I kind of go, you know what?
06:48I'm fine.
06:49I don't need to unpack that.
06:50I don't need to take that apart.
06:51I'm lucky.
06:52I'm doing fine.
06:53I'm just gonna, I'm just gonna take that.
06:55And after he was elected, I went, I'm not gonna take it anymore.
06:59Once you notice how often older actors are paired with younger actresses on screen, it
07:03becomes hard to ignore.
07:04Maggie Gyllenhaal pointed out the conflicting emotions that she had when she was told that
07:08she was too old for a role playing the love interest of a 55-year-old man.
07:12She was only 37 at the time.
07:14If for whatever reason this happens in the future, it doesn't matter what you do or what
07:19you say, you will be doing it in public because that's the stage I'll be on.
07:24And believe me, I'm very good on a public stage.
07:28If this was just one role in one movie, maybe that would be fine, but Gyllenhaal's story
07:32got people talking about the many very real examples of actresses being cast who are years
07:38or even decades younger than their male co-stars.
07:41Does your father know that you speak this way?
07:46Does your wife know you're here?
07:503.
07:51Viola Davis
07:52Being celebrated and winning Oscars doesn't protect a woman from facing gender and racial
07:56biases.
07:57I have a career that's probably comparable to Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore, Sigourney
08:03Weaver.
08:04They all came out of Yale.
08:05They came out of Juilliard.
08:06They came out of NYU.
08:07They had the same path as me, and yet I am nowhere near them.
08:12Not as far as money, not as far as job opportunities, nowhere close to it.
08:18In terms of the gender pay gap in Hollywood, Viola Davis was all for her white colleagues
08:22speaking out.
08:23However, she cautioned about centering the conversations on white actresses, as her experience
08:27shows that it can be even worse for women of color in the industry.
08:31What they're getting paid, which is half of what a man is getting paid, well we get
08:34probably a tenth of what a Caucasian woman gets.
08:37And I'm number one on the call sheet.
08:39She may be a star, but she makes less than many white actors.
08:42Despite her success, her comments on the Women in the World Summit about this very issue
08:46made it clear how sexism and racism overlap in the movie industry.
08:51We love you.
08:52There is no one like you.
08:54Okay, then if there's no one like me, you think I'm that?
08:57You pay me what I'm worth.
08:592.
09:00Emmy Rossum
09:01As recently as a year ago, my agent called me and was like, I'm so embarrassed to make
09:05this call, but there's a big movie, and they're gonna offer it to you.
09:10They really love your work on the show, but...
09:13The Hollywood Reporter Roundtables have become a huge part of the awards season, but can
09:17also be a place where performers commiserate about the highs and lows of their careers.
09:21At one such roundtable in 2017, Shameless star Emmy Rossum relayed a story about a highly
09:26suspect casting session.
09:28Her agent contacted her and said a director wanted her for a role.
09:32The only catch was he wanted her to come to his office in nothing but a bikini.
09:36But you're already doing Shameless and we've seen your body.
09:38Wait, totally.
09:39We've already seen everything.
09:40He wanted to know if I was fat now.
09:42Oh!
09:43That's so deep.
09:45As unhinged as it was, Rossum actually had a moment where she considered whether the
09:49part was good enough to go through with it.
09:51But it's a sobering look at what an actress might be expected to do for a role.
09:56This is actually really happening.
09:58So confusing.
09:59And I was, I was deeply upset.
10:00Why?
10:01I just can't believe that the word fat was anywhere, anywhere.
10:04You know, we really love your work, but we really just want to see how tight your ass
10:07is.
10:08Before we continue, be sure to subscribe to our channel and ring the bell to get notified
10:12about our latest videos.
10:14You have the option to be notified for occasional videos or all of them.
10:18If you're on your phone, make sure you go into your settings and switch on notifications.
10:24Number 1.
10:25Meryl Streep
10:26It's hard to believe an actress of her stature ever had a bad audition.
10:29However, Meryl Streep's early career audition for Dino De Laurentiis did not go well.
10:33In fact, it was a little devastating.
10:36I went up to the top of the Gulf and Western building, like the 33rd floor, and he had
10:40this amazing office that looked all over Manhattan and he was back there.
10:46Actor Graham Norton, Streep retold the story of how she was scouted by De Laurentiis' son
10:51and brought to his office to audition for the 1976 remake of King Kong.
10:56Not knowing she could understand him, the mogul insulted her looks in Italian.
11:00Che brutta.
11:01You know, why do you bring me this ugly thing?
11:03Yeah, very sobering, you know, as a young girl.
11:10So I said to him, mi dispiace molto, you know, but I understand what you're saying.
11:16I'm sorry, I'm not beautiful enough.
11:19Clearly her talent was a complete non-issue.
11:22Streep of course went on to become an acting powerhouse who has been a vocal proponent
11:26of gender equality in Hollywood and all over the world.
11:30It's weird that you're all men there, or that there are two women and nine men.
11:35That should feel sort of off.
11:37Something should feel off because you're not, if you're running a company that serves the
11:43population at large, you're serving 51% of our women.
11:47Which of these moments shocked you the most?
11:49Tell us in the comments.
11:50So when people ask what's next, I'm like, I don't know, we've never been here as a society.
11:54Women have never been believed ever.
11:56Women have not been listened to.
11:58Do you agree with our picks?
11:59Check out this other recent clip from Ms Mojo.
12:02And be sure to subscribe and ring the bell to be notified about our latest videos.