Sarah Michelle Gellar has recently reflected on sexism in Hollywood and how young female actresses are branded as “difficult” if they speak their mind.
In a new interview with Independent, the Buffy star recalled the earlier days of her acting career and how she was labelled as “difficult” at the time on sets.
“A lot of times on sets, you’re told not to make waves; ‘Just do the job’; ‘You’re replaceable’. And in Hollywood, and when you’re specifically a young female and you speak up about things, you’re labelled as ‘difficult’,” said the 45-year-old actress.
Sarah continued, “But now I’ll wear that with pride, if ‘difficult’ means that I expect everyone to come with their 100 per cent A-game.”
“If you have the weight of the world on your shoulders, and you’re doing all this work and someone’s late on something – it’s OK to not be OK with that. But it does get you that label, which I think is unfair,” remarked the Scooby Doo actress.
Reese also opened up about how two women on the sets at the time were “really pitted against each other”.
The actress remembered that while filming Cruel Intentions, the team on the set would not allow Reese Witherspoon and her to get close to each other.
“It was hard. Women at the time were really pitted against each other. We were taught that other actresses were out to get you,” noted the actress.
Reese also mentioned that she and her female co-stars were “instructed to keep distant”. She pointed out that she and Reese reconnected years later.
“I and Reese since gone deeper into things we experienced [on other sets]. We found out that we were both going through so much of the same stuff,” she added.