Thandie Newton Was Abused At 16 By A Director

Speaking to CNN, Thandie Newton shared a story of hers that is repeated everyday in Hollywood and around the world and which is why I try to expose as many of them as I can. At the age of 16, Thandie was subjected to a sexual assault by a director. He basically made her have sex with him for a part. True casting couch stuff. When she was 18, she suffered even more and the result of that suffering is still out there. "The director asked me to sit with my legs apart – the camera was positioned where it could see up my skirt – to put my leg over the arm of the chair. Before I started my dialogue, I was told to think about the character I was supposed to be having the dialogue with and how it felt to be made love to by this person. I was thinking this is so strange, why would I need to do that? But this is the director, there is the casting director, [it] must be normal. I’m 18 years old, you know, and I’m thinking this is, obviously... I was in a protected... there were boundaries. It turned out the director... used to show that video late at night to interested parties at his house – a video of me touching myself with a camera up my skirt."