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Blake Lively speaks out about being sexually harassed by a makeup artist

'He was saying things inappropriately, insisting on putting my lipstick on with his finger'

Jack Shepherd
Friday 13 October 2017 11:05 BST
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In the wake of multiple women accusing Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein of sexual abuse, Blake Lively has shared her own experience of harassment.

Speaking to the Los Angeles Times, the actor — best known for appearing on the TV series Gossip Girl — detailed how a makeup artist she was working with regularly harassed her.

“He was saying things inappropriately, insisting on putting my lipstick on with his finger,” she told the publication. “I was sleeping one night on location and I woke up and he was filming me. I was clothed, but it was a very voyeuristic, terrifying thing to do.”

Lively spoke to the project’s producers about the incidents but nothing was done. “After three months of complaining, they called me into my trailer and said, ‘We need to talk to you.' I thought, ‘Well finally, they’re going to do something about this man who I had to have touching me all day.’

“And they said, ‘Your dog left a poop behind the toilet in your dressing room and our janitor had to pick it up. And this is very serious and we can't have this happen again.’ ”

Following that meeting, Lively eventually brought on a lawyer, leading to an investigation being conducted and the makeup artist being removed from the unnamed project.

However, even after the artist was removed for sexual harassment, the production manager “wrote him a letter of recommendation because nobody wanted there to be bad blood.”

Multiple actors have spoken out against sexual harassment over the last week, including Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Kate Beckinsale who all detailed cases against Weinstein.

Amazon Studios have also suspended one of their head executives after a Hollywood producer publicly accused him of making unwanted sexual advances.

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