Got ridiculed for calling out Hollywood misogynist, says Megan Fox

Actress Megan Fox spoke candidly about the “ridicule” she endured after speaking out against Hollywood misogyny early in her career. She often spoke out about being objectified on Michael Bay sets, including one infamous ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’ interview where she shared how creepy it was to have to dance in a bikini under a waterfall at age 15 while shooting a small part in ‘Bad Boys II’. Fox said bringing attention to Hollywood’s misogyny long before the #MeToo movement only made her a bigger punchline. “I think that I was ahead of the #MeToo movement by almost a decade,” Fox said.

“I was always speaking out against some of the abusive, misogynistic, patriarchal things that were going on in Hollywood back in 2008 and 2009, way before people were ready to embrace that or tolerate it. And I actually got ridiculed for doing it. I think people just have had time to review that, in retrospect.” Even when Fox tried to take on more feminist work, such as her role in Karyn Kusama’s cult classic horror movie Jennifer’s Body, she was still met with bad reviews that called her character ‘shallow’. “I have never felt completely included in the feminist community and I do still think that it’s tricky in an awful way,” Fox said.

“Whatever I provoke in them is not something that they can digest very well. And so that comes back on me, as they reject me for those reasons. And I just don’t think that I was a very sympathetic victim.” Fox maintained that through it all she has never once regretted speaking her mind about the industry: “The regret I have is that my personality is so lost on people, my sense of humour is lost. My intelligence is not acknowledged. And so that is a regret. Sometimes I feel like I just waste my energy…” — IANS