Mila Kunis says she was once threatened with her career if she didn’t pose half nude for a men’s magazine to promote one of her films.
The reveal, among other revelations of gender bias the actress says she has experienced throughout her career, was detailed in an open letter written by Kunis and published Wednesday on A Plus.
According to Kunis, a producer told her she would “never work in this town again” if she refused to do the skin-bearing photo shoot.
READ MORE: Squashing sexism: What every women, business can learn from Hillary Clinton
“I was livid, I felt objectified, and for the first time in my career I said ‘no,’” the Black Swan actress wrote. “And guess what? The world didn’t end. The film made a lot of money and I did work in this town again, and again, and again.”
Adding, “What this producer may never realize is that he spoke aloud the exact fear every woman feels when confronted with gender bias in the workplace.”
Kunis didn’t reveal the movie she was referring to.
The Bad Mom actress also says she felt she had to play by the “rules of the boys’ club” in order to be successful.
“But the older I got and the longer I worked in this industry, the more I realized that it’s bullsh*t!,” she said. “And, worse, that I was complicit in allowing it to happen.”
So the 33-year-old decided to take matters into her own hands and start her own production company and was in the midst of collaborating on a project with an “influential male producer.”
However, during an email exchange between him, Kunis and production bigwigs, he referred to her as “soon to be Ashton’s (Kutcher) wife and baby mama.” Kunis and her team then cut ties with the project.
READ MORE: Mila Kunis, Ashton Kutcher expecting second child
“He reduced my value to nothing more than my relationship to a successful man and my ability to bear children,” Kunis writes. “It ignored my (and my team’s) significant creative and logistical contributions … Yes, it is only one small comment. But it’s these very comments that women deal with day in and day out in offices, on calls and in emails – microaggressions that devalue the contributions and worth of hard-working women.”
Kunis ends her letter by saying she’s done with compromising as well as with being compromised.
“So from this point forward, when I am confronted with one of these comments, subtle or overt, I will address them head on; I will stop in the moment and do my best to educate,” she said. “I cannot guarantee that my objections will be taken to heart, but at least know I am part of creating an environment where there is the opportunity for growth. And if my comments fall on deaf ears, I will choose to walk away.”
Comments