Patricia Clarkson has claimed a movie producer once offered to hold her hand while filming an intimate scene.
The Pieces of April star divulged the alleged encounter when she cited instances of inappropriate behaviour that actresses simply "tolerated" in the 1980s and '90s during an appearance on The Kelly Clarkson Show.
Clarkson, 65, claimed that the producer made his offer when she expressed her concerns about being naked on screen during negotiations for a film role.
"I was offered a part, and it had nudity, and I just was just out of school and I was like, 'I don't really want to be naked,' and the producer literally said to me, 'Well, when you're doing the nudity, I'll hold your hand.' And I said, 'Is that all you're going to hold?!'" she recalled. "We tolerated this."
The Easy A star also recounted a time when she had a meeting with a "very big, famous person" and he "came out in a towel".
"I was just like, 'OK!' He goes, 'Oh, I was just working out, I'm going to put some clothes on.' I said, 'Yes, please do!'" the Oscar-nominated actress said, before adding, "We tolerated so much. But then we started to fight back as women. We started to fight back."
While Clarkson did not identify the men involved in those instances, she recently spoke about her "very ugly" dispute with producer Harvey Weinstein because she refused to be submitted for best supporting actress for 2004's The Station Agent as she was the lead.
"I went up against Harvey, and he told me I'd never work again," she told Business Insider, before noting that the "difficult" situation inspired her to star in the 2022 drama She Said, which depicts The New York Times's 2017 investigation into allegations of sexual assault against Weinstein.
The disgraced movie mogul is currently in prison after being convicted of sexual offences in New York and California. The New York convictions were overturned in 2024 and a retrial is currently underway.
