Blake Lively Opens Up About Sexual Harassment And Butt-Cupping In Hollywood

Blake Lively has opened up about sexual harassment and butt-cupping in Hollywood several weeks after saying she was never harassed by producer Harvey Weinstein.

In her lengthy interview with Star2, Blake Lively had plenty to talk about – from her personal experience with sexual harassment in the film industry, her new movie All I See Is You, to knowing her husband Ryan Reynolds was the one.

Speaking about the most recent wave of sex scandals in Hollywood, Lively said that “power games exist in every industry.” The 30-year-old Gossip Girl star said sexual harassment was sort of a taboo topic in Hollywood when she first started out as an actress, but insisted that it exists “in every industry,” and that whether “you are working in a grocery store or starring in a movie, despicable behavior happens.”

“If it’s something very small, like cupping your butt or making some comment, I am not going to report that, because that is just the way it is,” Blake Lively told the publication, explaining that women often take sexual harassment “for granted.”

The actress was quick to add that as a mother of two daughters, 2-year-old James and 11-month-old Inez, she is “happy” that there is “an awakening, an awareness, and people are finally speaking out.” Last month, shortly after the Weinstein sex scandal made headlines, Blake Lively told the Los Angeles Times that she had never been sexually harassed by Weinstein, but recalled a time when she was harassed by a makeup artist, whose name she chose not to disclose.

The mother of two recalled how the makeup artist kept saying things “inappropriately,” insisting on putting her lipstick with his finger and even filming her while she was asleep.

“I was clothed, but it was a very voyeuristic, terrifying thing to do,” Blake Lively recalled the incident, adding that she reported it to the project’s producers, but they did nothing. The makeup artist was eventually fired from the project when the actress took the case to her lawyer.

During her latest interview with Star2, Lively was asked to reveal when she knew her husband Ryan Reynolds was “the one.”

“He’s my best friend,” the Gossip Girl star said of Ryan Reynolds, adding that she knew they “could be best friends for the rest of our lives, whether there was chemistry or not” the first time she met the Deadpool actor. “I knew right away that we would be together forever, and that he would be mine. That was it.”

When asked why Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds are rarely seen together, the actress joked, “because you guys aren’t in my house, thank God.” On a more serious note, the mother of two explained why she’s always alone whenever she attends premieres of her films.

“That’s our job,” Lively said, adding that it’s “important” to draw a line between work and private life. “You don’t ask people who work in an office why isn’t your husband with you at work, or why your wife isn’t there.”

When asked who “the boss” at their home is, Blake Lively responded, “there is no boss.” The actress explained that when there’s “love and respect for each other, everybody has got a voice and everybody should be heard.” Lively also gushed that Reynolds is an “amazing, amazing father,” adding that she is “lucky” because he is her “best friend” and their friendship “has continued through parenthood.”

“I was lucky to get a good one,” Blake Lively said of her husband of five years.

[Featured Image by Taylor Jewell/Invision/AP Images]