She was told, “you’ll never work in this town again.”
Mila Kunis has written about the time a male film producer told her that her career was over because she wouldn’t pose semi-naked for a men’s magazine.
In an essay titled ‘You’ll Never Work In This Town Again’ on A Plus, she wrote: ‘A cliché to be sure, but also what a producer threatened when I refused to pose semi-naked on the cover of a men’s magazine to promote our film.
‘I was no longer willing to subject myself to a naïve compromise that I had previously been willing to.
‘I will never work in this town again?’ I was livid, I felt objectified, and for the first time in my career I said ‘no’.
‘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. What this producer may never realise is that he spoke aloud the exact fear every woman feels when confronted with gender bias in the workplace.’
In her letter, Kunis spoke about now being able to stand her ground but insisted that women are still being discriminated against, and being reduced to types, by men both inside and outside showbusiness.
‘If this is happening to me, it is happening more aggressively to women everywhere. I am fortunate that I have reached a place that I can stop compromising and stand my ground, without fearing how I will put food on my table.
‘I am also fortunate that I have the platform to talk about this experience in the hope of bringing one more voice to the conversation so that women in the workplace feel a little less alone and more able to push back for themselves.’
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