LEXINGTON, Kentucky: Actress Ashley Judd, whose claims against a Hollywood mogul helped set off an avalanche of sexual harassment allegations, said Friday that the fight against sexual misconduct will be a “chaotic, messy” endeavor, but that women won’t let potential public fatigue about the scandals slow the efforts.
Judd told an audience at the University of Kentucky, her alma mater, that the fight is about “ending impunity.”
Judd said that film mogul Harvey Weinstein harassed her three different times. She said Friday she has not spoken about the other alleged incidents because she wants the focus to be on larger issues.
“I want to talk about how it’s not about sex, it’s about power,” she said. “I want to talk about how the statistics say that one in three or one in four of us experience sexual misconduct. But every time I get together with three or four women, it’s all three or four of us.
“I want to talk about how there is naturally a chaotic, messy, unprecedented socio-cultural, sexual change — the reckoning as some folks are calling it — happening around us,” she added. “And it won’t be tidy, and it won’t be easy, and we don’t have a playbook. We can’t go to page 463 and tear it out and say this is how we navigate what’s going on.”
While some powerful men have lost their jobs due to harassment allegations, Judd said: “What about all of the women whose careers never got off the ground?
“What about the collective economic loss endured, especially by women in low-paying jobs, women on the margins of the margin, the undocumented, the field workers, the gals in the diners who get their bottom pinched all the time? What about them?”
Ashley Judd urges women to persevere in fighting harassment
Ashley Judd urges women to persevere in fighting harassment
First lady Melania Trump to preview new film at private White House screening
- Film offers rare behind-the-scenes access to Melania Trump
- First lady to ring NYSE opening bell to promote film
WASHINGTON: First lady Melania Trump will host a private White House screening on Saturday of a new film documenting her life in the 20 days leading up to President Donald Trump’s second inauguration, an adviser said.
The movie, “Melania,” is set for a global release on January 30. Saturday’s showing will be the first time the president, her family and close friends see the film in full, said Marc Beckman, the first lady’s outside adviser and agent.
The film offers rare behind-the-scenes access to the first lady, who has kept a low public profile during her husband’s second term. The trailer opens on Inauguration Day in January 2025, showing her donning a navy wide-brimmed hat for the ceremony at the US Capitol. It also depicts her role as an adviser to the president, including a moment in which she encourages him to emphasize “peacemaker and unifier” in his inaugural address.
Beckman, who produced the film, oversaw the $40 million movie deal with Amazon’s MGM Studios, plus a follow-up documentary series set for release later this year focusing on some of Melania Trump’s priorities, including children in foster care.
“This is not a political film at all,” Beckman said in an interview, adding that the first lady spearheaded the film’s creative direction.
The movie highlights her fashion choices, diplomatic engagements and the operations surrounding her Secret Service protection. Beckman said viewers also will see moments that capture the president’s sense of humor.
Ahead of the public theatrical release of the film next week, the president and first lady will attend a premiere on Thursday at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, renamed the Trump-Kennedy Center by the Trump-appointed board of directors.
The first lady is also scheduled to ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday to promote the film, Beckman added.
