Matthew Lawrence says he was once dropped by his talent agency after refusing a “prominent” director’s advances in order to get cast.
The 43-year-old former teen star opened up about being sexually harassed in Hollywood during an episode of his Brotherly Love podcast, which he presents alongside his famous siblings.
“There’ve been many times in my life where I’ve been propositioned to get a huge role,” he told his brothers and co-hosts Joey and Andy Lawrence.
“I’ve lost my agency because I went to the hotel room, which I can’t believe they would send me to, of a very prominent Oscar award-winning director who showed up in his robe, asked me to take my clothes off and said he needed to take Polaroids of me.
“And then if I did X, Y and Z, I would be the next Marvel character. I didn’t do that, and my agency fired me because I left this director’s room.”
Matthew then criticised the “double standards” society has when it comes to men dealing with sexual harassment, noting “a lot of my other male friends” had similar experiences.
The Mrs Doubtfire actor pointed to Terry Crews’ experience after accusing WME agent Adam Venit of groping him in 2017.
“Terry Crews comes out and says it; people are laughing at him,” Matthew recalled. “People don’t support him. They kick him out. Why? Because he’s a man that represents masculinity, and I think our society is less ready to hear that situation going on with men than they are with women.”
“Not a lot of guys in my opinion have come out and talked about this in the industry. There is also this same situation,” he said.
Matthew was quick to make it clear he wasn’t discounting women’s experiences, adding: “Now granted, it’s probably about a third of what women go through. The amount of men… Men go through this as well, whether it’s another woman or another man in power.”
Watch the full podcast below: