Sienna Miller Praises the #MeToo Movement at a United Nations Event

As the number of people who continue to step forward to bring allegations of sexual misconduct by powerful men proves, the #MeToo movement shows no sign of slowing. The latest to add her voice to the movement is Sienna Miller, who addressed the United Nations’s “#MeToo—Now What?” panel on Friday in New York City, according to The Guardian. During her speech, which was part of the U.N.’s annual meeting on gender equality, the Commission on the Status of Women, the English-American actress not only shared her own experiences with sexual harassment and sexism throughout her career, but also praised the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements for the strides they’ve made in improving women’s welfare in the workplace and beyond.

At one point during her speech, Miller described a particular instance in which she felt “undermined” and “undervalued,” The Guardian reports. “I have really just had enough. Enough of being undervalued, enough of being undermined, enough of being disrespected, because of my gender,” she said. “A few years ago I was offered a gutsy, powerful role in a play that was close to my heart. It was a two-hander on Broadway, but I was offered less than half what my male costar was being paid. The decision to turn down this particular role was difficult and lonely. I was forced to choose between making a concession on my self-worth and dignity and a role that I was in love with,” she said. “It turned out to be a pivotal moment in my life,” she said. “Not because I did it. But because I didn’t.”

Miller, 36, also referenced in her address the time she fought back against privacy-invading paparazzi, Vogue reports. She recalled times early on in her career when she says she was harassed by male photographers, “camera-armed men,” and claims she was “judged and vilified in ways that never would have happened” if she were a man. (In 2011, she told investigators looking into media ethics that she had been “spat at, verbally abused” by paparazzi.) But in 2008, Miller successfully sued a photo agency, citing a British anti-harassment human rights decision that had originally been designed to protect people from stalkers and animal rights protesters. “I fought back,” she said on Friday. “I got privacy law changed.”

She went on to echo the sentiments of Natalie Portman and others in saying that organizing with other women in the industry via Time’s Up has made her feel less alone. “I am excited that this movement challenges the loneliness and isolation we have all felt in relatively insignificant or extreme situations. I really feel that as women, we are no longer alone,” she told the panel, per The Guardian, which hosted the panel along with the Norwegian government and U.N. Women. Miller continued, “For me, the strongest significance of the Time’s Up movement is that, by bringing to light the darkest moments of some of the most powerful women in Hollywood, it sends a message to those who admire and listen to them. This message is that sexual harassment happens to everyone, even those who we think are untouchable because of their fame or celebrity status. It sends the message that being treated unfairly cannot be an intrinsic part of being a woman.”

“The revolution is really here,” Miller added, according to Vogue.

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