Actress Diane Kruger says Hollywood changing because ‘men are scared’

Actress Diane Kruger and director/producer Fatih Akin pose with his award for Best Motion Picture - Foreign Language for "In the Fade". (REUTERS)
Updated 15 January 2018
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Actress Diane Kruger says Hollywood changing because ‘men are scared’

PARIS: Hollywood actress Diane Kruger said Monday that the #MeToo movement had scared powerful men but she was afraid that change may be short-lived.
The German-born star, who won best actress in May at the Cannes film festival for “In the Fade” — which is hotly tipped for a best foreign movie Oscar nomination — told French television that she has never been paid as much as her male co-stars.
Yet she insisted that lasting change was only possible with men’s help.
Kruger said the progress made on harassment since the Harvey Weinstein sexual assault scandal shook Hollywood might be illusory if the culture did not change with it.
“For now it is changing because men are scared,” said the actress, who made her name internationally with Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds” in 2009.
“Every day there is someone new who is denounced (as an abuser),” she told BFMTV. “However, I am afraid that in six months, or a year, or even 10 years we will be still hearing the same thing.”
“It has to stop — things have to change and everyone has to speak out so we can try to go forward, not only in terms of sexuality, but in the way we are paid.
“I have never been paid the same as the man I am playing opposite. That is not right,” she said.
“We have got to be really vigilant, and women have to stick together for this cause.”
But Kruger, 41, said men needed to join with women if there is to be a real cultural change.
“Above all we need men at our sides who fight for us and defend our interests. Women alone cannot change things,” she added.
Kruger plays an avenging widow in Fatih Akin’s Hamburg-set thriller, “In the Fade,” which last week won best foreign film at the Critics’ Choice Awards, which tend to be the most accurate predictor of Oscar nominations.


Mona Tougaard wears bridal look at Dior’s Paris show

Updated 27 January 2026
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Mona Tougaard wears bridal look at Dior’s Paris show

  • Rihanna and Brigitte Macron among attendees at show
  • Design part of new director Jonathan Anderson’s vision

DUBAI/ PARIS: Model Mona Tougaard reportedly turned heads in a bridal-inspired look on the Christian Dior runway during the recent Paris Haute Couture Week.

The runway star, who has Danish, Turkish, Somali and Ethiopian ancestry, wore a sculptural white gown with a one-shoulder silhouette and layered petal-like appliques cascading from the bodice to the full skirt.

The asymmetrical bodice featured draped detailing across the torso, while the skirt flared into a voluminous, floor-length shape.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by Dior Official (@dior)

The look was finished with oversized floral statement earrings that echoed the dress’s petal motif.

The floral elements echoed the wider vision of Dior’s new creative director Jonathan Anderson, who drew inspiration from nature and his love of ceramics for his first Haute Couture collection since being appointed to the role.

The 41-year-old faces the rare challenge of overseeing all three fashion lines at the house — women’s and men’s ready-to-wear and Haute Couture — becoming the first designer to do so since Christian Dior himself.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by Dior Official (@dior)

Just days after presenting his latest men’s collection during Paris Men’s Fashion Week, the Northern Irish designer returned with his first couture offering.

The collection featured floral motifs on fabrics or as accessories, while sculptural bulbous dresses were inspired by the work of Kenya-born ceramicist Magdelene Odundo.

“When you copy nature, you always learn something,” Anderson declared in his show notes, which compared Haute Couture to a living ecosystem that is “evolving, adapting, enduring.”

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by Dior Official (@dior)

Other noteworthy pieces included dresses with spherical birdcage-inspired silhouettes, while other models wore vest tops with their dresses gathered around their waists.

The front row at the Rodin Museum reflected the scale of anticipation surrounding Anderson’s couture debut. France’s first lady Brigitte Macron arrived early, while Lauren Sanchez Bezos swept in shortly after.

Actor Parker Posey twirled briefly in a trench-style dress, playing to the room before settling in.

Then the space fell into a collective pause as celebrities and editors alike waited for Rihanna. When the pop star finally took her seat, the lights dropped and the show began.

Before the show, Anderson admitted in an interview with the Business of Fashion website that he previously thought couture was “irrelevant,” adding that he never really “understood the glamour behind it.”

“Now, I feel like I’m doing a Ph.D. in couture,” he explained.