Ellen Page took to Facebook to write about her alleged experience with sexual harassment by Brett Ratner on the set of X-Men: The Last Stand.
‘“You should f—k her to make her realize she’s gay,’” Page began in a lengthy post on Facebook. “He said this about me during a cast and crew ‘meet and greet’ before we began filming, X Men: The Last Stand. I was 18 years old. He looked at a woman standing next to me, ten years my senior, pointed to me and said: ‘You should fuck her to make her realize she’s gay.’ He was the film’s director, Brett Ratner.”
Page continued: “I was a young adult who had not yet come out to myself. 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. This man, who had cast me in the film, started our months of filming at a work event with this horrific, unchallenged plea. He ‘outed’ me with no regard for my well-being, an act we all recognize as homophobic. I proceeded to watch him on set say degrading things to women. I remember a woman walking by the monitor as he made a comment about her ‘flappy pussy.’”
The Juno star, 30, also revealed she got into a fight with Ratner.
“I got into an altercation with Brett at a certain point,” Page wrote. “He was pressuring me, in front of many people, to don a T-shirt with ‘Team Ratner’ on it. I said no and he insisted. I responded, ‘I am not on your team.’ Later in the day, producers of the film came to my trailer to say that I ‘couldn’t talk like that to him.’ I was being reprimanded, yet he was not being punished nor fired for the blatantly homophobic and abusive behavior we all witnessed. I was an actor that no one knew. I was 18 and had no tools to know how to handle the situation.”
Page’s story about Ratner, 48, comes after six women, including Olivia Munn, detailed alleged incidents of sexual harassment or misconduct by the film director and producer in a Los Angeles Times story published on Wednesday, November 1.
Actress Anna Paquin took to Twitter to support Page. “I was there when that comment was made. I stand with you .@EllenPage,” the True Blood star tweeted.
I was there when that comment was made. I stand with you .@EllenPage https://t.co/DEIvKDXeEL
— Anna Paquin (@AnnaPaquin) November 10, 2017
She added “#truth” and “IStandWithYou” in another tweet.
#truth #IStandWithYou https://t.co/0Qi6bQ5Wyf
— Anna Paquin (@AnnaPaquin) November 10, 2017
The Inception actress also wrote about sexual harassment in Hollywood overall, naming Bill Cosby, Harvey Weinstein and Roman Polanski as examples. She also noted doing a movie with Woody Allen is “the biggest regret of my career.”
“Look at the history of what’s happened to minors who’ve described sexual abuse in Hollywood,” Page wrote. “Some of them are no longer with us, lost to substance abuse and suicide. Their victimizers? Still working.”
“What I want the most, is for this to result in healing for the victims. For Hollywood to wake up and start taking some responsibility for how we all have played a role in this,” the Gaycation star continued. “I want us to reflect on this endemic issue and how this power dynamic of abuse leads to an enormous amount of suffering. Violence against women is an epidemic in this country and around the world.”
