TMC
01-25-2022, 07:10 PM
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-10438137/Alice-star-Linda-Lavin-says-sexually-harassed-filming-TV-movie-1987.html
Lavin, 84, said she was sexually harassed on the TV film Lena: My 100 Children
She claimed she was harassed by a 'very powerful man on the production team'
The Alice star described the harassment as 'physical' and 'disgusting'
She said other women on set refused to speak up out of fear of losing their jobs
Lavin recently appeared in Aaron Sorkin's film Being The Ricardos
PUBLISHED: 00:58 EST, 25 January 2022 | UPDATED: 00:58 EST, 25 January 2022
The actress Linda Lavin claimed in an interview published Monday that she was sexually harassed by a man in a position of power while starring in a TV movie in 1987.
Lavin, 84, told Page Six that she was harassed in a 'physical' manner by a 'man on the production team' of the film Lena: My 100 Children, which aired on NBC.
The longtime Alice star said that she tried to get other women on the production to report the misconduct with her, but they allegedly refused to help over fears of being fired if they spoke out.
Lavin's television film Lena: My 100 Children was inspired by a true story. The film focuses on a woman who cared for a large group of orphaned children whose parents were killed in concentration camps during World War II.
After nursing the children back to health and providing psychological for them, she helps them emigrate to Israel to escape anti-Semitism that still plagues Poland after the war.
'There was sexual harassment by a very powerful man on the production team, and I was a victim of it, and it was physical and it was disgusting,' Lavin said of her time filming the TV movie.
Although she hoped to have strength in numbers to end the harassment, some women on the production were too scared to join forces with her.
'I went to the women on the crew and said, "Will you go to the union with me?" And they said, "We’ll lose our jobs [if we do], and so I was alone with it and I was scared,' she recounted.
In addition to the 'physical' incident that left her wanting to speak out, she said that harassment on set also 'happened in more subtle ways' that she didn't think she could address at the time.
Although she didn't feel secure enough to speak out at the time, a wave of women speaking out against sexual misconduct and abuse as part of the #MeToo Movement has helped her feel more confident about fighting for proper treatment on set.
'The difference is now I do [speak up] because of those women who came forward in the last few years and because I got my self-esteem back,' she said, adding that workplace 'rules are firm' and 'clarified' thanks to the struggles of other women.
'We have support and regulations,' Lavin continued. 'I come from a generation of women who brushed it off and swept it under the rug.'
NBC, which aired Lena: My 100 Children, has not yet commented on Lavin's claims.
The actress, who currently appears as a regular on the CBS sitcom B Positive, also spoke about the eye-opening experience of starring in the popular 1970s and '80s comedy series Alice, which was inspired by Martin Scorsese's film Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore.
'Alice opened up the world of social and political realities to me, and Alice spoke to those realities. Single mothers, working women in the blue- and pink-collar jobs — which, by the way, are 80 percent of all the women who work in this country — and raising a child, working all day long and working for a man who was paying a man more money than her,' she explained.
More recently, Lavin has appeared in Aaron Sorkin's film Being The Ricardos as the I Love Lucy writer Madelyn Pugh.
She actress revealed that she had close contact with the real-life Pugh, as she was the head writer on Alice for part of its years-long run, though Sorkin wasn't aware of the connection when he cast her.
Lavin, 84, said she was sexually harassed on the TV film Lena: My 100 Children
She claimed she was harassed by a 'very powerful man on the production team'
The Alice star described the harassment as 'physical' and 'disgusting'
She said other women on set refused to speak up out of fear of losing their jobs
Lavin recently appeared in Aaron Sorkin's film Being The Ricardos
PUBLISHED: 00:58 EST, 25 January 2022 | UPDATED: 00:58 EST, 25 January 2022
The actress Linda Lavin claimed in an interview published Monday that she was sexually harassed by a man in a position of power while starring in a TV movie in 1987.
Lavin, 84, told Page Six that she was harassed in a 'physical' manner by a 'man on the production team' of the film Lena: My 100 Children, which aired on NBC.
The longtime Alice star said that she tried to get other women on the production to report the misconduct with her, but they allegedly refused to help over fears of being fired if they spoke out.
Lavin's television film Lena: My 100 Children was inspired by a true story. The film focuses on a woman who cared for a large group of orphaned children whose parents were killed in concentration camps during World War II.
After nursing the children back to health and providing psychological for them, she helps them emigrate to Israel to escape anti-Semitism that still plagues Poland after the war.
'There was sexual harassment by a very powerful man on the production team, and I was a victim of it, and it was physical and it was disgusting,' Lavin said of her time filming the TV movie.
Although she hoped to have strength in numbers to end the harassment, some women on the production were too scared to join forces with her.
'I went to the women on the crew and said, "Will you go to the union with me?" And they said, "We’ll lose our jobs [if we do], and so I was alone with it and I was scared,' she recounted.
In addition to the 'physical' incident that left her wanting to speak out, she said that harassment on set also 'happened in more subtle ways' that she didn't think she could address at the time.
Although she didn't feel secure enough to speak out at the time, a wave of women speaking out against sexual misconduct and abuse as part of the #MeToo Movement has helped her feel more confident about fighting for proper treatment on set.
'The difference is now I do [speak up] because of those women who came forward in the last few years and because I got my self-esteem back,' she said, adding that workplace 'rules are firm' and 'clarified' thanks to the struggles of other women.
'We have support and regulations,' Lavin continued. 'I come from a generation of women who brushed it off and swept it under the rug.'
NBC, which aired Lena: My 100 Children, has not yet commented on Lavin's claims.
The actress, who currently appears as a regular on the CBS sitcom B Positive, also spoke about the eye-opening experience of starring in the popular 1970s and '80s comedy series Alice, which was inspired by Martin Scorsese's film Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore.
'Alice opened up the world of social and political realities to me, and Alice spoke to those realities. Single mothers, working women in the blue- and pink-collar jobs — which, by the way, are 80 percent of all the women who work in this country — and raising a child, working all day long and working for a man who was paying a man more money than her,' she explained.
More recently, Lavin has appeared in Aaron Sorkin's film Being The Ricardos as the I Love Lucy writer Madelyn Pugh.
She actress revealed that she had close contact with the real-life Pugh, as she was the head writer on Alice for part of its years-long run, though Sorkin wasn't aware of the connection when he cast her.