Jamie Lee Curtis: MeToo would have 'upset' Janet Leigh

18 October 2021

Jamie Lee Curtis thinks the #MeToo movement would have "really upset" her mom, Janet Leigh.

Jamie Lee Curtis

The 62-year-old actress believes the late 'Psycho' actress - who died in 2004 - would never have complained about any negative behaviour on set when she was younger because she was "just grateful" to work and simply accepted unwanted male behaviour was just part of the job.

Jamie was in conversation with Melanie Griffith, whose mother Tippi Hedren starred in 'The Birds' and 'Marnie', for Interview magazine when she was asked how her mom found working with director Alfred Hitchcock.

Melanie, 64, said: "I don't know how he was with your mom, but he apparently was not very good with my mom."

The 'Halloween Kills' star replied: "I don't think Janet would have ever acknowledged if there was any bad behaviour.

"She was, it's a bad term, but kind of Pollyannaish about the industry.

"I think the #MeToo movement would have really upset her. It's not fair to unpack that, because she's dead and I'm going to put words in her mouth, but knowing her, I think she would not say that he misbehaved in any way. But it's interesting that maybe our mothers were in competition with each other.

"I don't think Janet would ever have acknowledged anything, because from her standpoint, she was just grateful. That was very much her take. I think she would have looked at it as, 'That was just the way it was.' "

Melanie noted that the director got "very psychologically crazy" with her 91-year-old mom when they worked on their two movies and told how she was "shunned" by Hollywood as a result.

She said: "You know, she was of the #MeToo movement, and it was not accepted at that time. She was shunned and he made sure that she was shunned."

Tippi previously claimed in 2016 that she had been sexually assaulted by Hitchcock and threatened to destroy her career.

She also noted: “This is nothing new. These things have been going on since man and woman were first put on our planet. It’s just very disconcerting to constantly have men believe they can just do whatever they want with women.”