Myleene Klass says 'respected' director asked her to take off her dress in audition
Myleene Klass has revealed she has been sexually harassed in auditions, and that a director once asked her to take off her dress.
The star, who found fame when she won a place in pop group Hear’Say on talent show Pop Stars: The Rivals, said she’s faced harassment in the entertainment industry “many times”.
Speaking on the Dirty Mother Pukka podcast, the mum-of-three said she now makes a “very loud noise” about sexual harassment because she does not want her daughters – or any other woman – to go through what she did.
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Klass, 43, said: “I remember going into one of the worst auditions of my life and I thought I was really safe. It was at his house and he did this kind of role play.
"I was in music college and he asked me to read the lines. And he then said, 'Take off your jacket', that was the line, so I took off my imaginary jacket and handed it to him and he broke character and said, 'There’s nothing in my hand' and that is where as any woman will know, you go ice cold.”
The star eventually took off her actual coat and handed it to the man - who she said was a “well known, very well respected director” - and he replied: "Thank you, now take off your dress."
Klass said on other occasions comments were made about her body.
She went on: “At the time, I would’ve crept out the door and felt horrific.
"Now I make a very loud noise about it because you will not put me in a position where my daughters will then have to follow suit, or any other woman who can’t speak up for herself or the 19-year-old me in the room.”
Klass said she is teaching her children – daughters Ava and Hero and son Apollo – to speak up if they are uncomfortable, saying: “No means no. If it feels uncomfortable, it’s wrong.
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“You don’t have to wait for the justification of, ‘I’m sure he was being really nice but’, or, ‘Maybe I misinterpreted it but,’ or, ‘Maybe you came a little bit too close but’. I said: ‘There is no but’.”
Additional reporting by PA.
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