Patricia Arquette has blamed her own "lack of clarity" for the backlash she received after speaking out about the gender pay gap.
Patricia Arquette
The 47-year-old actress railed against gender inequality in her acceptance speech for Best Supporting Actress at the 2015 Academy Awards but admitted that her "wording was stupid" in comments afterwards in which she said gay people and people of colour needed to fight for women.
She said: "I blame myself for my stupid wording that night when I was calling for male activists to have our backs and remember women, to support the women's movement and to include women in the conversation. I was talking about the really devastating consequences of the women's movement stalling out. It was my own lack of clarity backstage that made some women feel left out or slighted. This of all things makes me sad, because they are my heroes.
"Since the speech, I have learned a lot more about the feminist movement and how women of colour have been left out of the process. I understand that more now. I am really sad that I may have added to their feeling of being excluded."
Patricia also admitted that she "almost fainted" after giving the speech.
She told the Hollywood Reporter: "I didn't really know how the speech would be accepted until afterwards. I almost fainted right after, and I was shaky. I felt very weird, like somebody had shot me up with a strange drug. But what I was doing was very clear to me: I was really trying to appeal to our leaders, our great activist leaders. I also appeal to the great male activists that we have, and I feel strongly that they, too, need to stand up for women and help us.
"Winning an Oscar changes people's perception of you. If I could go back to the morning after the speech and tell myself something that I know now, I would say: 'You know what, breathe deep. It's all going to be OK. You may be human and flawed and make mistakes, but your intention is good. Your intention is to shine a light. Your intention is to activate, agitate. Start people talking, and that is a good start.' "
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