Jacqueline Bisset Says She Feels 'Very Unsympathetic' Toward Women Who Spoke Up amid the #MeToo Movement

Mar. 15, 2025

Jacqueline Bisset in 2024.Photo:Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic

Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic

ActressJacqueline Bissetsays she feels “unsympathetic” toward women who spoke up against sexual harassment in Hollywood during the #MeToo movement.

In a new interview withPage Six, the 80-year-old actress said, “I understand as an idea, it’s important that men behave, but I do really think it’s important that women behave, too.”

“I think how you dress, your subtext is very, very important,” she continued. “It’s very dangerous and not to be played with.”

Jacqueline Bisset attends the Palm Springs International Film Awards on Jan. 3, 2025.Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty

Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty

The ’70s star added that she feels “very unsympathetic to these stories, these #MeToo things,” adding, “You have to be very careful what you put out [there].”

According to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN), 1 out of every 6 American women has been the victim of an attempted or completed rape in her lifetime. In the U.K., from where Bisset hails, one in four women have been raped or sexually assaulted since the age of 16,according to Rape Crisis England and Wales.Various studieshave also long-since debunked the myth that victim attire or behavior causes sexual assault. Rape Crisis' website reads, “Raping or sexually assaulting someone is always a crime and 100% of the blame, shame and responsibility for that crime lies with the perpetrator or perpetrators.”

PEOPLE reached out to a rep for Bisset but did not immediately receive a response.

The #MeToo movement took hold in 2017 after movie producerHarvey Weinsteinwasaccused of multiple cases of sexual harassmentspanning three decades. That year,Timegave its Person of the Year title to “the silence breakers” of the movement.

Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Bisset insisted to Page Six that she thinks women “need to learn the word ‘no’ or the F-word or something and you have to do it and you can get through it without any problem.”

Jacqueline Bisset in 1970.Art Zelin/Getty

Art Zelin/Getty

TheDay for Nightactress also claimed that she has never experienced any sexual harassment because she “was very determined not to have anything happen to me and I was completely devoted to that idea.”

Bisset is thegodmother of Angelina Jolie, whoalso accused Weinsteinof sexual harassment.

“I think I was quite soft. And I think people were nicer then, generally, and I was very polite,” Bisset said at the time. “People said, ‘You were like a little butterfly. You were so fragile.’ I really did not have trouble with all the stories that people talked a lot about [with the #MeToo movement].”

She added, “I was also very determined not to have anything happen. I’ve worked with people who have got the reputation of being monsters, but they weren’t.”

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go torainn.org.

source: people.com