In 2012, Kristen Stewart was forced to issue an apology after photos emerged of her kissing Rupert Sanders, director of Snow White and the Huntsman, while she was in a rumoured relationship with her Twilight costar Robert Pattinson.
Both Stewart and the director — who was married to model Liberty Ross at the time — were consequently not involved with the film's 2016 sequel.
But in a candid interview with Howard Stern on Tuesday, Stewart said she felt as though the public response to the situation was "absurd" and a result of slut-shaming.
She insisted that she never had sex with the director, and when asked why she didn't say that publicly at the time, admitted she felt people wouldn't believe her.
She went on to say that the fact she wasn't included in the film's sequel was a reflection of how "fear-based" the film industry really is.
They didn’t put me in that movie because I went through such a highly publicised scandal, and so they were scared of touching that ... The work to me genuinely was ignored in a really sort of frivolous, silly, petty way for a group of adult people who were supposed to be running studios and making films. I think they’re idiots, because if you take a little risk and make something good, people will watch it and like it and pay you.
During the interview, Stewart also opened up about her relationship with Pattinson, saying there was "nothing she could do" about falling in love with him.
"It's so weird actually being honest about this, because it's been so heavily consumed," she went on. "I have this fear that people would assume that maybe it's kind of attention-y — like, oh, you're still pushing that narrative."
"I've actually never been allowed to just say what happened because I was so self-conscious about seeming like an attention seeker," Stewart said.
