An unexpected consequence. Rachel Bilson claimed that she was recently fired from a job because of her comments about wanting to be “manhandled” by her sex partners.
“This is the first time it’s ever happened to me in my professional life that I lost a job this week because of things that were said,” the Hart of Dixie alum, 41, revealed during the Monday, May 15, episode of her “Broad Ideas” podcast. “A job got taken away from me because I was speaking candidly and openly about sex in a humorous way on our friend’s podcast.”
The former O.C. star explained that she wasn’t just in talks for the gig but had already been hired. “I basically got a job that I already had pulled from me because I was speaking openly about sex,” Bilson said. “In this day and age, I’m baffled. A single mom, a woman, lost a job because they were being candid and honest and the subject was sex.”
The California native went on to say that the controversy stemmed from an interview earlier this month where she was discussing her favorite sex positions. During a May 3 appearance on the “Women on Top” podcast, Bilson said she prefers missionary, adding that she likes “to be f–king manhandled.”
The Jumper actress explained on Monday that she made the comments “in a joking manner” while “speaking candidly” with the podcast’s hosts, Tammin Sursok and Roxy Manning. “I didn’t even have a chance to defend myself,” Bilson added, referring to the unnamed company’s decision to pull her. “I’m a single mom — like, I need these jobs. Everything counts. I provide a lot for my family and my daughter. Regardless of anything else, it all matters.”
The Nashville alum shares daughter Briar Rose, 8, with ex-fiancé Hayden Christensen. The former couple split in 2017 but have since maintained an amicable coparenting relationship.
While the To Do List actress doesn’t usually hesitate to open up about her sex life, she said this incident has her reconsidering what she says. “I’m frustrated, and it makes me want to shut up,” Bilson declared. “I feel shamed by this company.”
The Drunk History veteran didn’t identify the brand, but she said she realized they were “conservative” after this incident. “They said they weren’t comfortable with that [manhandling] headline, and if people keep googling they’ll see the other things that I’ve commented on, which was orgasms. And I feel like it’s discrimination,” Bilson continued. “I’ve been floored, honestly, that everything was set in motion and I lost the job. It sucks.”
Despite the controversy, the Take Two star said she doesn’t regret her original comments. “I haven’t said anything inappropriate,” she explained. “Choice of language, if I could go back, now knowing that I lost a job, maybe I would say it differently. But I still wouldn’t not say it.”
Bilson has become known for speaking openly about sex on her podcast, revealing earlier this year that she had her first orgasm during intercourse at age 38. “Isn’t that crazy?” the How I Met Your Mother alum told guest Whitney Cummings in March.
The Waiting for Forever actress later clarified that she didn’t want her comments mentioned in connection with any of her past relationships. After her split from Christensen, 42, she briefly dated Bill Hader.
During a March appearance on Nick Viall‘s “The Viall Files” podcast, Bilson said that her orgasm remark had “nothing to do with any partner” and was about “me knowing my body,” noting that she wasn’t “giving a trophy” to any exes. “Nobody was involved other than myself,” she added.
