These are photos of Christina Hendricks and John Slattery at the premiere of God’s Pocket. Christina’s dress at the premiere is Vivienne Westwood. I always feel like Vivienne can really style Christina’s body well. So many designers just push her boobs up and out, but Vivienne creates a silhouette that flatters the girls without making them look obscene. Christina works this dress like crazy.
Slattery directed this movie, which co-stars the late Philip Seymour Hoffman. His last few films feel like gifts for the public to unwrap. I still can’t believe he’s gone. Christina gets weepy about PSH in a new interview with The Guardian. She discusses a ton of other stuff here too. Christina talks more about how she’s not interested in having kids. She says she gets sexually harassed nearly every day “at work.” Oh, and she got dropped by her managers when she signed onto Mad Men. For real. I bet they feel pretty dumb right about now. Let’s do this:
On the positive response to Joan: “I guess I was surprised. I watched what people responded to in Joan, and she’s so many things, but I think it’s her strength, resilience and confidence. My agency dropped me when I first agreed to play Joan in Mad Men. I had been on several shows that were meant to be the big ones, that would go on for ever, and they didn’t. So there was no sure bet and I’d already taken a chance on them and I felt, why not do the one you’re in love with and take a chance on that?”
Sexism in Hollywood: “You know, it’s difficult in the arts to pinpoint it but there’s sexual harassment at work every single day, all day long. Certainly in the respect and position [of women], you feel like, ‘Am I allowed to ask these questions or contribute in this way?’ … Society has conditioned you that way. As women, we feel we can’t ask for things. There’s been a lot of research done recently and, more often than not, if a woman goes in to ask for a raise, she’ll get it. But she’s thinking, ‘Do I deserve it? I’ve got to give a list of why I deserve it.’ Whereas a man will just go in and ask for a raise. It’s so scary.”
On Philip Seymour Hoffman: “I was saying to my husband [the actor Geoffrey Arend] that sometimes when you have a friend who passes, it feels very, very final,” she says, and her eyes become filmy as she turns away and stares at the tablecloth. “But something about Philip … I keep thinking I’m going to see him again. I guess, when I watch the film now, I feel like it’s a celebration of him. I feel lucky to have gotten to work with him. I feel grateful and I feel sad.”
The last day of Mad Men shoots: “We didn’t want to leave. I don’t think it’s fully hit me yet … We [the cast] all know each other more than most people on Earth know each other. A lot has happened these eight years. A lot of us have gotten married, bought homes, had children.”
Did she ever want children? “I think in my mid-20s I did because I was moving around a lot and didn’t have that sense of community, of being rooted. I know plenty of people who don’t have children. And I also get a lot of people who say, ‘Thank you for speaking out, my family don’t understand why I don’t want kids.'”
She has an anti-anxiety dog: “Service dog. So she can travel with me on aeroplanes. She’s an anti-anxiety dog. She calms me down.”
On her lack of privacy: “There’s some horrible pictures of me chewing on meatballs [in London]. I’ve had more people come and say, ‘Do you mind if I take a picture because my friend will never believe it.’ Really? Why? Are you just a big liar? That’s always the justification or excuse for it because it’s not just a picture for them and their friend, it’s a picture they’re going to put on Facebook for their thousands of friends to look at.”
The journo starts to ask about her body: “Don’t do it,” she says firmly, before I even get to the end of the sentence. She smiles but it’s quite clear she means it. She finishes her raw steak and then places her knife and fork together on the plate. Just like Joan, there’s a steely underwiring beneath that pale-skinned, blush-cheeked exterior.
[From The Guardian]
Christina also discusses more about how she was bullied in high school. I left that part out because people are tired of hearing celebrities talk about bullying. Her story does sound different than many. She wasn’t just teased but also spit upon and sometimes in fear of being pummeled. Christina knows how to stand up for herself now. Look at how she shut down that journo for trying to talk about her body. You go, girl.
Christina wore a Temperly London jumpsuit before the premiere. This look is flattering, but it’s nowhere near as fun as the Westwood dress.
Photos courtesy of WENN
Hourglass is super hard to dress, which I know from personal experience. Kim Kardashian tries to deal with it by wearing extremely tight clothing that showcases her chest. The Westwood dress clings, but not in a skintight way, and emphasizes the chest without putting it on display.
I’m not sure I understand her definition of sexual harassment. Certainly a hostile work environment is a component of sexual harassment, but what she’s describing sounds more to me like discrimination, not harassment. The only reason I care is that sexual harassment is a real issue for many women, and this sort of trivializes it, which is damaging to women who are actually placed in untenable positions if they refuse to have sex or permit sexual conversations or contact with someone who has power over them.
Getting asked about your t–ts all the time? That’s sexual harassment. That’s just one example from the interview in this article. She didn’t go into details about what she experiences on a day-to-day basis, but I’m quite sure it has to do with her body.
I can only go by her actual description of what is happening to her, which was a reluctance to give input into the script or ask for a raise because she’s a woman. That’s discrimination, not harassment. Even Bedhead called it sexism, not sexual harassment. You’re making assumptions about what’s happening to her that she was perfectly free to state, but didn’t. If people were truly sexually harassing her, I think she would sue them or quit. She is either misusing the word or leaving out pertinent details. There are people actually experiencing sexual harassment, and it needs to be stopped. This isn’t helping them.
Having said that, I do agree that asking someone about their breasts in every interview is harassment, and she was right to shut it down. But that’s not what she described as “happening every day, all day long.”
If she didn’t put her t**s on display, she wouldn’t get asked about them all of the time. Yes, just b/c you have big breasts doesn’t mean you should be asked about them all day, but damn. Help yourself out and keep them covered if it bothers you that much.
Not to mention… she starts of by talking about sexual harassment, and then ends up talking about something else completely different in the end. So, whatever point she was trying to make was lost on me. It just made her sound uneducated and dumb.
She can’t describe the harrassment as it would be calling out specific people and lawsuits would ensue. But I’ll bet she’s endured plenty with being called “honey,” or talked over in meetings or otherwise patronized and belittled. Hostile workplace behavior is subtle and has to be carefully documented before you call someone out on it, which is why most of us never bother.
She could wear turtle necks from now until death and she will still be asked about them. She shouldn’t need to cover herself because other people don’t know how to behave.
@GeeMoney
Your response is awful and incredibly sexist.
Society thinks that women’s bodies are public property. A woman has the right to dress however she wants and not have people ask her about her breasts. I don’t ask men about their d-ck regardless if they have bulge or not.
Since this was a print interview we also don’t know if they edited her response to the sexual harassment question.
@Merritt
My response isn’t sexist at all. And I didn’t say that just because a woman has big breasts doesn’t mean that she shouldn’t dress the way she wants. All I was saying is that if you want to minimize the embarrassing stares and comments, perhaps you shouldn’t wear outfits that draw attention to your ridiculously BIG BREASTS.
And yeah… and I can rattle off on this topic all day however the f*** I want… I’m not only a woman, but my breasts are a LOT bigger than Christina Hendricks’. And I know from f***ing experience that I have truly reduced the amount of stares and degrading comments made towards me by being modest with my clothing choices so that I can function in this world without having to be worried constantly about being sexually harassed, especially at work.
So… don’t call me sexist. You can go f*** yourself for directing that comment towards me.
@GeeMoney
NO. No, it is not the victim’s fault when someone else chooses to harass them. No, it is not the victim’s responsibility to try to never draw an attacker’s attention.
It’s the responsibility of every person in society to treat every other person in society decently.
Given that crappy people exist in the world, sure — you can talk about a person protecting themselves. But your first instinct should not be to tell the victim it’s their own fault for failing to protect themselves against attackers — it should be to condemn the attackers and discuss what can be done to stop them.
Thanks for pointing that out, Merritt. She sounds very intelligent. She made some good points about how women are conditioned. She stood up for herself. Let’s not get stuck on the difference between harassment and discrimination. We all know what she was trying to put out there and it’s a good message. Sexism still exists. Period. Are women going to make an issue about her breasts on this site? Sheesh…
Geemoney, there’s no need for you to react that way. Women can be sexist. Just like any race/ethnicity can be racist, and an older person can be ageist. Being a woman doesn’t prevent someone from being sexist. Good for you for reducing the inappropriate comments directed at you by covering up. But you can’t force other women to do that if they don’t want to. That doesn’t mean other people have the right to harass them. If they get those comments then it’s up to them AND everyone else within earshot to speak up. Someone as simple as, “that’s not right.” Or “That is sexist” will do. You don’t have to get into a debate with anybody. But if everyone stays silent, this will never change.
@dan… Thank you!! If you have large breasts they are visible even when they are covered. When I was younger and worked with mostly men, i never had my t*ts out and dressed very modestly but men still looked at my boobs all the time
I have big breasts too… yeah, men looking at them is unavoidable. But, you can decrease the amount of comments and talk about them if you dress modestly and cover them up a bit. Hendricks could do this if she wanted. But I guess it’s just easier to complain about it.
@MOT – me too, even though I was dressed like a nun I still got stared at so @GeeMoney, unless I was in a burka there was no getting away with just “covering them up a bit”. I finally had a reduction done because getting clothes to fit was a nightmare and my back and neck were starting to ache all the time. Best thing I ever did. Now clothes fit and I don’t get guys staring at my chest when they talk to me.
Don’t much like the go eff yourself stuff. Christina is gorgeous and if she wants to show off her body – she works in the entertainment industry after all – she’s entitled to do so. Of course men will look but there’s a difference between looking admiringly and shamelessly perving. If we go down the “cover them up if you don’t want men gawping” route we will end up in burka territory. There is a responsibility on men not to be sleazy – women generally manage to avoid overt crotch staring at men as they go about their business.
For real! Women degrading other women on this site for “not dressing down” to accommodate misogynists or the socially inappropriate?? In 2014, for real, women are actually slamming other women for having big breasts? This gives me the sads. 🙁
I was eleven when I went through puberty. I tried to avoid dealing with rapidly growing breasts by wearing a tube top under sweaters and crossing my arms over my chest. Girls in my class would run their hands down my back and say, “Hope I made your tube top fall off.” By the time I finally got a bra, I was in the C/D cup range.
I did anything I could to avoid attention to what I thought was my shameful body. Wear baggy mens flannel button downs over concert t-shirts. Hunch my shoulders and slouch around like an overgrown hobbit. A kid in 7th grade science said, “I heard you cross your arms like that to hold your boobs up.”
Eventually my mother convinced me that I’d feel better about myself with reduction surgery. It hurt like hell, left me with scars and nerve damage, and unable to breastfeed my future child without supplementing a lot of expensive formula. I don’t know if I regret the surgery, but I don’t know that I did it for the right reasons. I was 24 and had no idea what being unable to breastfeed much would entail.
This is in no way a judgment of women who are pleased with reduction. Of all plastic surgeries, reduction mamoplasty has the highest satisfaction rate reported by patients. Back pain is a reasonable consideration for the surgery. Slicing open my body to remove fat, milk ducts and nerve endings because I was feeling shamed and gawked at by society was just rather sad.
The Joan character is a hip-swinging, body-confident woman who stands tall and tells it like it is. Even if she hunched, crossed her arms and wore baggy men’s clothes, her body would still be analyzed, dissected and discussed ad nauseum, because Hollywood & the media are even more absurdly body shaming than 11 & 12 year-old school kids. Christina Hendricks deserves to discuss her work without constantly answering questions about her chest. She deserves to wear clothes that make her feel beautiful, confident and comfortable without being careful to hide what some may find “ridiculously big breasts” by dressing more “modestly”. I mean, the V. Westwood dress kept her skin more covered and we’re still talking about her boobs, right?
US Equal Opportunity Commission:
Sexual Harassment
It is unlawful to harass a person (an applicant or employee) because of that person’s sex. Harassment can include “sexual harassment” or unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical harassment of a sexual nature.
Harassment does not have to be of a sexual nature, however, and can include offensive remarks about a person’s sex. For example, it is illegal to harass a woman by making offensive comments about women in general.
Both victim and the harasser can be either a woman or a man, and the victim and harasser can be the same sex.
Although the law doesn’t prohibit simple teasing, offhand comments, or isolated incidents that are not very serious, harassment is illegal when it is so frequent or severe that it creates a hostile or offensive work environment or when it results in an adverse employment decision (such as the victim being fired or demoted).
The harasser can be the victim’s supervisor, a supervisor in another area, a co-worker, or someone who is not an employee of the employer, such as a client or customer.
Sorry – I posted that, then somebody came to my door. All I wanted to say was that you should be careful not to trivialize sexual harassment. It’s serious and damaging and there are real people suffering from it without an ounce of her power or ability to fight back.
To be fair, she is responding to a question about sexism, not sexual harassment. She does say “sexual harassment”, but then I think she goes back to sexism.
The article reads, ” I wonder: has Hendricks ever experienced sexism in the acting industry?”, and then you see the reply posted above.
Where the workplace is concerned, sexism can easily slide into hostile workplace territory. Being referred to as a “girl” by male counterparts, being talked over in meetings (I know I said that one already but it really irks me), having male staff comment on female attire …all small things until they add up.
Good for her for shutting down the body question. She gets asked that a lot and I am sure she’s sick if it.
Umm. RAW steak. OMG!
Yeah I googled hard to find something called RAW STEAK that would look edible. Failed miserably.
Love that she’s not letting the body talk happening. I’m so totally bored with talented female celebrities being asked NONSTOP about hair, weight, looks, makeup, etc. Seriously, who gives a shit? Leave that to the nonentities like the Kardashian morons.
Bravo! And she is right about sexual harassment it still happens every single day in one way or another from stares to not making the same amount of money as a male co-worker. Don’t kid yourself or blame her that she is always the one talking about her tits…nope that is squarely on the interviewer.
I think she is gorgeous, so I’m guilty of staring at her, too. I cannot believe she was dropped for signing onto Mad Men. HAHAHAHA. I like her.
I m not sure I’m understanding what she means with the asking for a raise comment. She says a woman will get a raise if she asks, but she has to justify it first? Doesn’t every one habe to do that? That seems like a fair business practice. I don’t think women should be able to raises or promotions just because of institutionalized sexism. Is she saying that men get raises unjustifiably, just by asking?
Yes, that is what she is saying. Some men do it but women do it as well.
No she is saying that women FEEL they have to thoroughly justify themselves and don’t feel they deserve or warrant a pay rise whereas men would be more comfortable just asking for one. Like even if both parties deserved the raise, if the woman is too afraid to ask, noone will hand it to her.
She isn’t saying men get unjustified raises or women deserve raises for nothing.
I get it and see it reflected often in real life.
I read it as, a woman won’t ask for a raise without mentally justifying it to herself–like asking herself if she “deserves” it, whereas men just assume they deserve it and ask. It’s a mental thing that has crept in on many (not all) women, based on the way we’re treated in American society. A man who is confident is assertive and a go-getter, a women who acts similarly is a b.tch. That kind of stuff.
That part struck me as strange too. Not sure how the American business is, but here men definitely don’t just enter their boss’ office and ask for a raise. Whatever the gender, you have to VERY carefully justify that. The idea of someone just asking for it is incredibly bizarre to me, let alone that they get it.
That is a really great dress.
I have trouble believing she was sexually harassed on the set of MM on a daily basis. If the producers and director didn’t put an end to it, I’m sure Slattery or Hamm would have.
I feel like she’s trying to talk in general terms – women face sexual harassment in the workplace every day, but it’s coming off as if she’s dealing with it on MM all the time, which I would hope isn’t the case.
Good for her for stopping the body question.
I took it the same way and I also think that she confused sexual harassment with gender inequality. However, what she said is still smarter than what a few other starlets spew from day to day. I loved the descriptions of the steel under the blushing exterior, I’ve met her once, very briefly, but that’s the exact impression I got.
And the bit about her being on shows hailed as Big Ones hurt *never-getting-over-Firefly*
True, at least she’s not going “Everything’s fine, I’m not a feminist because I love men!”, but I think you’re right that she’s mixing the 2 up.
Oh Firefly….gone way too soon…
Even sadder that nowadays it probably would have landed on a cable network and thrived for a few seasons.
The thing that is getting lost here, is that she is responding to ” I wonder: has Hendricks ever experienced sexism in the acting industry?” and she replied, “Oh sure.”, then she continues…
She is changing lanes between sexism and sexual harassment, and I think the interviewer understood that, it just isn’t clear in the summary posted above. I think she is referring to the question of sexism when she talks about her voice being heard in conversation, etc.
Yeah. I think the ellipses are significant. Her statement was edited. I read it as she made a point about sexual harassment and then moved on to other pertinent and related issues. Just because it was put under the header of “sexual harassment” doesn’t mean that she is actually describing inequal compensation as sexual harassment.
Something about her I have just never warmed up to and she sounds kind of bitchy in the interview or maybe my dislike of her is coloring her words that way. *shrugs*
I agree. She comes off as such a bitch imo.
I’m so glad she shut the journalist down about asking after her body. I love what she had to say about people insisting they photograph her. And to acknowledge that women experience sexual harassment in the workplace is something that still freaks people out to hear, so good on her for saying so.
Damn, she’s one stone cold fox. Love that black pantsuit. Of course, we ‘know’ there is sexual harassment all day in Hollywood, but thank you for getting it on the record, lady!
“Vivienne creates a silhouette that flatters the girls without making them look obscene.”
Lol!! This made me laugh so hard 😂 Boobs are never obscene. They’re natural and beautiful.
+1!!!
The Westwood dress is insanely good on her but the jumpsuit? Hideous! Big busts aren’t flattered by crew necks. That simple concept actively eludes her, for some reason. Also, the rise on the jumpsuit is too long for her so it doesn’t hang properly.
I want to be her.
She’s really cool, can’t wait to see what she does after “Mad Men”
I’m not trying to start a boob war here, and obviously women shouldn’t be objectified because of their bodies, yada yada. But, I’ve seen pictures of her from the late nineties, and her breasts weren’t that large. They weren’t small, but she’s definitely had some work done. That isn’t just a little more weight.
I don’t understand people who choose to get overly large breasts and then complain that that’s all people look at. If you didn’t choose to enlarge them, you have every right to bemoan the attention. It’s like when people get devil horns implanted in their skull and get mad when people stare at them. What did you think was going to happen? You obviously did it to attract attention, and that’s what you’re getting.
Seriously! This lady really confuses me. First of all, she looked beautiful before the implants. Now, all you see are boobs. Nothing wrong with large breasts, but if you don’t want them to get all the attention, why play them up?
http://tinyurl.com/lxbzqn7
I don’t know if she’s had work done, but I agree with the other part of your comment. I have a girlfriend who went from a C cup to a G cup (to be in playboy) and complains when people stare at her. Of course people are going to stare at your G cups in the skin right, cleavage baring shirts you wear! I don’t care if you flaunt what you have, but don’t complain when it gets the attention…
My sister’s breasts have continued to grow since she was young from around a C at age 18 to a G where she is now at age 32. They aren’t in proportion to her body – she is normal sized with huge knockers. It happens. Move on.
I am going to stand up for Hendricks and the whole did she get a boob job. When I graduated college in the early ’00s I was 107 pounds and didn’t have to wear a bra. When I got about 30-32 I had gained weight as an office drone and freaking suddenly I had triple D’s. I had only gained 35 pounds in ten years but it was all in my boobs. I went to a college reunion and one of my guy friends rudely was like “whoa where did those come from.”
So I think I could see her having gained that weight naturally as one got older and not necessarily a boob job.
My university lecturer showed us a video recently, of Helen Mirren being interviewed, sometime in the 1970s by Michael Parkinson. He asked her if her breasts got in the way of her acting. SO RUDE!! I loved the way that she handled it though, she humiliated Michael, in a way. Love what Christina just did too.