On Saturday, nearly an estimated 5 million people gathered at 673 Women’s Marches across the globe. And among the attendees at the march in Los Angeles were several celebrities marching in solidarity including Scarlett Johansson, Viola Davis and Natalie Portman — who took to the podium to share a horrifying story of being sexualized early on in her career as a teenager, explaining why we need #MeToo and Time’s Up.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Portman recounted receiving her first fan mail letter at the age of 13 after starring in The Professional — only to be completely terrified by it.
“I excitedly opened my first fan mail to read a rape fantasy that a man had written me. A countdown was started on my local radio show to my 18th birthday, euphemistically the date that I would be legal to sleep with,” she continued. “Movie reviewers talked about my budding breasts in reviews. I understood very quickly, even as a 13-year-old, that if I were to express myself sexually, I would feel unsafe.”
Natalie Portman said experiencing “sexual terrorism” at the age of 13 made her feel the need to cover her body and inhibit expression while addressing thousands in LA gathered for the Women’s March https://t.co/LjDJxrz1DV pic.twitter.com/X9Ee9dZUBM
— CNN (@CNN) January 21, 2018
She went on to describe the way she adopted a specific public persona in order to defend herself against the way men sexualized her teenage body.
“I emphasized how serious I was,” she told the crowd. “I built a reputation for basically being prudish, conservative and nerdy in an attempt to feel that my body was safe and that my voice would be listened to.”
Portman wasn’t the only celeb who used her platform to speak out on behalf of women —Viola Davis also killed it on stage with a much-needed powerful speech about intersectional feminism (something last year’s Women’s Marches were criticized for lacking) and Scarlett Johansson even used the opportunity to call out James Franco for pretending to stand by women via that Time’s Up pin at the Golden Globes while privately preying on women.
“I want my pin back, by the way,” she told the crowd, which was later confirmed by her rep to be directed at James Franco. (SAVAGE.)
Viola Davis went tf OFF… nothing but respect for MY president https://t.co/DMJ8l3WjZX
— gabi (@harleivy) January 20, 2018
As Viola Davis put it, it’s important that we remember that in order for the cycle of oppressive and predatory behavior to be broken, we need to be working towards gender and racial equality every day, not just on the one day of the year we’re marching.
“My hope for the future, my hope, and I do hope that we never go back,” Davis said. “That it’s not just about clapping your hands and screaming and shouting every time someone says something that sounds good. It’s about keeping it rolling once you go home.”