Julie Delpy has claimed she was blacklisted in Hollywood by a director after she refused his sexual advances.
Julie Delpy
The French star of cult romance movies 'Before Sunrise' and 'Before Sunset' told The Guardian newspaper that the first week she arrived in Los Angeles in 1993, in her early 20s, she turned down an amorous director who then damaged her career by smearing her reputation.
Delpy, 48, said: "It wasn't aggressive. I didn't snap at him. I just said, 'It's not for me. This is not who I am.'"
The Oscar nominated actress found out years later through friends that the man in question had spread it around that she was "difficult".
Delpy went on: "I couldn't figure out why every time I had a studio audition it would end up, We love her, but we don't know if ...' And the part would go to someone else ... I didn't work with a lot of people because I had the reputation of saying no."
The 'Before Midnight' star, who has gone on to write and direct her own films, believes all actresses with the reputation of being divas in Hollywood, are simply women who turned down the sexual advances of powerful men.
Delpy said: "Men of power never say to other men of power, 'She said no to me.' They say, 'I can't work with her. She's too crazy.' Or, 'She's too difficult.' And you realise that all those actresses who had the reputation of being difficult, they're not difficult. You realise so much damage has been done. Careers destroyed. Lives destroyed. It really hurts me inside. Luckily, I was able to turn my life upside down by directing and writing. I won in the end."
The '2 Days In Paris' director revealed she "rarely" gets offered parts any more.
She said: "It was like I was blacklisted, or something. First, you say no to a few powerful men. Then you start directing movies, and then you're done."
And Delpy has admitted she avoided working with disgraced movie producer Harvey Weinstein - who has been accused by numerous actresses of sexual harassment and assault - because she had heard all about his reputation.
Delpy revealed: "I knew he was someone to avoid being alone with at any cost."
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