PARIS: French activist and former actress Brigitte Bar­dot said on Thursday that many actresses sexually provoke film producers to win roles and then complain about harassment to get attention.

Her comments come a week after fellow French actress Catherine Deneuve sparked an outcry by saying a backlash against men following the Harvey Weins­tein scandal had gone too far. She referred to the #Metoo campaign against sexual harassment as puritanism.

Bardot, one of France’s most famous figures, was quoted by weekly magazine Paris Match as saying that most complaints of sexual harassment by actresses — not by women in general — were “hypocritical, ridiculous and pointless”.

“There are many actresses who are coming on to producers just to get a role,” the 83-year-old one-time model was quoted as saying. “Then, just so people will talk about them, they say they have been harassed.” “I was quite charmed when they told me I was beautiful,” the magazine quoted her as saying. “That kind of compliment is nice.”

Published in Dawn, January 19th, 2018