Sandra Bullock asked to be fired from a movie after being subjected to unwanted advances.
Sandra Bullock
The 'Ocean's Eight' actress learned a "lesson" early in her career after finding herself in a "situation" that left her feeling uncomfortable and now she'll no longer do anything that could be seen as "sexual" in her work.
She said: "Very early on in my career I had a situation on a film, which was hard. It came from a person of authority. I kept deflecting it with humour and it didn't work. Finally, I said, 'Please, just fire me.'
"It was a lesson. After that, I tended to remove anything that could be misconstrued as sexual. I locked it down."
The 53-year-old star always tries to navigate tough situations with humour, such as an uncomfortable interview with disgraced 'Today' show host Matt Lauer, who spent four minutes of a 2009 interview with her questioning her about a single nude scene.
Asked if she regrets not seeming more outraged, she told the Sunday Times magazine: "That's how I've always navigated tricky situations. That's how I've survived."
The 'Miss Congeniality' actress confirmed her awkward encounter wasn't with scandal-hit movie mogul Harvey Weinstein but admitted she was always "afraid" of him because of his reputation.
She said: "I heard about Harvey and I was afraid of him. I wasn't asked to be in that world. I learnt early on to shut things off so those things didn't come my way.
"I only heard what Harvey wanted people to hear, and that made me so f***ing angry. People would say, 'Well, you know how she got that role? She f***ed Harvey.' I would say, 'Shut the f**k up. You don't know that.'
"Then, later, to find out that woman was brutally attacked ... They didn't sleep with Harvey. Harvey wanted you to think that."
Though Sandra - who has adopted children Louis, eight, and six-year-old Laila and is in a relationship with photographer Bryan Randall - was impressed by the first wave of "brave people" to come out and publicly accuse Weinstein of sexual misconduct last year, she was initially "really, really scared" that they would be vilified for it.
She said: "I was like, 'Oh my God, this is amazing, but f**k, f**k, f**k, what if it doesn't work? Please God, let it not swing the other way.' We're in such uncharted territory right now. I've seen a lot of fear and a lot of men of a certain generation not understanding."
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