There is a difference between “standing with” and “doing,” says Blake Lively.
The actress gave her thoughts about the sexual misconduct allegations made against film executive Harvey Weinstein in a Monday appearance on ‘Good Morning America’.
“I never had experiences like this with Harvey myself. I only had positive ones with him, but that goes to show where you don’t always see what’s going on behind closed doors,” she said.
She’s not unfamiliar with the subject, however.
Blake had previously opened up to the Los Angeles Times about her own “terrifying” sexual harassment experience involving a makeup artist who filmed her while she was sleeping.
On ‘GMA’, where she showed up to promote her upcoming film, ‘All I See Is You’, the actress said abuse against women is a “global” issue, not just a Hollywood issue.
And she’s relieved people are finally speaking out.
“There have been moments where I’ve come forward, where other people have come forward, with things that just feel a little [weird] and you’re not sure.
“But when your bosses tell you that this is not a priority to them, then you think, ‘OK, well then this must not be that big of a deal. Maybe what I’m complaining about isn’t that big of a deal.’ And it is.”
But Lively thinks the response needs to go beyond words.
“It’s more than just like, ‘Oh, we’re talking about it and we’re supporting it,’” she added. “It’s action. Everybody says that they stand in solidarity, but you have to show that you stand in solidarity.”
While speaking with the Los Angeles Times last week, Lively explained how producers did nothing to help when she told them about the makeup artist. So she took the matter to her lawyer and ultimately got the man removed from the project. Still, the response wasn’t harsh.
“Our unit production manager wrote him a letter of recommendation because nobody wanted there to be bad blood,” she said.
Weinstein has faced a string of sexual assault and sexual harassment accusations, but has “unequivocally denied” any allegations of non-consensual relationships.
Watch Blake’s full ‘GMA’ interview below...
This interview previously appeared on HuffPost US.