She will be heard! Us Weekly caught up with Nina Dobrev at the Create & Cultivate conference in Los Angeles on Saturday, February 24, where she spoke to Us about women empowerment — and her advice for young girls.
“I support women. I love supporting women. I want to bring women up,” the Reebok x Les Mills Ambassador, 29, told Us before hitting on the current state of Hollywood’s sweeping sexual harassment scandals that have come to light since October. “For me, one of the most important things with this whole movement is to make sure that younger women understand that they have the voice and the power to make and instill change in a way that a lot of people.”
The Vampire Diaries alum also opened up to Us about inspiring the next generation. “I didn’t know that I had that power when I was 20 years old, and I wish that this movement had happened 10 years ago so that I could have benefited from it earlier. But now that it’s happening, I want to hopefully inspire change with younger women.”
Though she may not have always known her own strength, Dobrev dished on always being outspoken even though it was “frowned upon” and considered, “bitchy or bossy.” She added: “Now I feel like it’s OK [to speak up] and people are listening instead [of judging].”
She continued to detail the effect of the Time’s Up and #MeToo movements: “I definitely feel like there’s an energy shift, but it’s the beginning stages. We have a lot more work to do, and it’s very inspiring. I feel like it hasn’t died down. There was a fear for a while there that this was just going to be a fad, or a moment, and it’ll pass, and everything will go back to the way it was, but I really don’t think so. I think there’s a fire in everyone’s soul that cannot be put out.”
As previously reported, the Let’s Be Cops actress was one of the many celebrities who wore black in solidarity with #TimesUp at the 2018 Golden Globes in January.
The Time’s Up initiative is a “legal defense fund” that aims to “provide subsidized legal support to those who have experienced sexual harassment, assault, or abuse in the workplace.”
Reporting by Carita Rizzo
