This post contains discussion of sexual harassment.
You know Matthew Lawrence. He was in stuff like Mrs. Doubtfire and Boy Meets World.
In a new episode of his Brotherly Love podcast, Matthew opened up about a sexual harassment experience he once had — in which his talent agency fired him after he declined to take his clothes off for a movie director.
“There’s been many times in my life where I’ve been propositioned to get a huge role,” Matthew told his cohosts, Joey and Andy Lawrence.
“I’ve lost my agency because I went to [a] hotel room, which I can’t believe they would send me to, of a very prominent Oscar award-winning director who showed up in his robe, asked me to take my clothes off, and said he needed to take Polaroids of me.”
“And then if I did X, Y, and Z, I would be the next Marvel character," Matthew added. "I didn’t do that, and my agency fired me because I left this director’s room.”
Matthew said "a lot" of his male friends have shared the same experience, but there's a "double standard" in how people treat them compared to women victims.
“Not a lot of guys in my opinion have come out and talked about this in the industry,” Lawrence said. “Now, granted, it’s probably about a third of what women go through. Men go through this as well. … I think our society is less ready to hear that situation is going on with men than they are with women.”
To hear everything Matthew had to say, listen to the full podcast episode here.
If you or someone you know has experienced sexual assault, you can call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673), which routes the caller to their nearest sexual assault service provider. You can also search for your local center here.