Actress Ellen Page has accused filmmaker Brett Ratner of exposing her sexuality on the set of X-Men: The Last Stand before she was ready to 'come out' as a lesbian.
The Juno star recalled the alleged incident as part of a lengthy Facebook post on Friday (10Nov17), when she detailed how widespread sexual harassment is in Hollywood, based on her own experiences.
Page claimed her reported encounter with Ratner occurred during a "meet and greet" for the cast and crew of the 2006 superhero movie, which he directed.
"He looked at a woman standing next to me, ten years my senior, pointed to me and said: 'You should f**k her to make her realize she's gay,'" Ellen recounted. "He 'outed' me with no regard for my well-being, an act we all recognize as homophobic."
The actress, who only went public with her sexuality in 2014, was too shy to say anything at the time, and noted no one else around her dared to address the inappropriate comment either.
"I was a young adult who had not yet come out to myself," she continued. "I knew I was gay, but did not know, so to speak. I felt violated when this happened. I looked down at my feet, didn't say a word and watched as no one else did either."
After Ellen shared her story on social media, her X-Men: The Last Stand co-star Anna Paquin backed up her claims via Twitter, writing, "I was there when that comment was made. I stand with you @EllenPage".
Meanwhile, elsewhere in her Facebook post, Page also revealed she had suffered other instances of alleged sexual misconduct, including having an unidentified director grope her leg during a dinner meeting when she was 16, the same year another filmmaker urged her to sleep with an older man and tell him all about it.
At the end of her piece, Ellen celebrated the fact so many victims of sexual abuse and harassment are finally finding their voices in light of the Harvey Weinstein controversy, after the movie boss was accused of inappropriate behaviour by a string of women in an initial New York Times article in early October (17).
"What are we afraid to say and why can't we say it?," she mused. "Women, particularly the most marginalized, are silenced, while powerful abusers can scream as loudly as they want, lie as much as they want and continue to profit through it all.
"This is a long awaited reckoning. It must be."
Ratner's representatives have yet to respond to requests for a comment.
Earlier this month (Nov17), he issued a firm denial after six women, including actresses Natasha Henstridge and Olivia Munn, went public with sexual harassment and assault allegations against Ratner in a Los Angeles Times expose.
His lawyer Martin Singer issued a statement at the time, declaring, "I have represented Mr. Ratner for two decades, and no woman has ever made a claim against him for sexual misconduct or sexual harassment..."
