It’s a point that’s been made before, but hearing Jennifer Garner’s personal experience with sexism in Hollywood and how it contrasts to her husband Ben Affleck’s experience really hammered home the message that something needs to change.
The actress gave a speech at the Elle Annual Women in Hollywood Awards on Monday night, and just the fact that women need to create ceremonies to celebrate themselves is an issue, she says.
‘The men in Hollywood event is every day—it’s called Hollywood,’ she said. ‘Fifty-one percent of the population should not have to have to schedule a special event to celebrate the fact that in an art that tells the story of what it means to be human and alive, we get to play a part…’
And since her husband basically does the same work as her, the pair’s conversations at night highlight the drastic difference between what it means to be a female actor versus a male actor.
‘My husband and I do kind of the same job, a little bit. Not long ago we both had one of those magical days, we call it a junket, where we both attended these lovely events where people come in every four minutes, they ask the same questions over and over again, you know the drill. We got home at night and we compared notes. And I told him every single person who interviewed me, I mean every single one, and this is true of the red carpet here tonight ar Elle, asked me, ‘How do you balance work and family?
We sincerely doubt any man in Hollywood has ever been asked this question. Even Brad Pitt has probably never been asked this, and he has quite the brood. Ben Affleck has a few kids too, and it’s not something that ever comes up in his interviews, according to his wife. Boobs though, have come up quite a bit.
‘He said the only thing that people asked him repeatedly was about the tits on the Blurred Lines girl, which, for the record if we’re talking about them, they are real and they are fabulous. Take a look and enjoy. As for work-life balance, he said no one asked him about it that day. As a matter of fact, no one had ever asked him about it. And we do share the same family. Isn’t it time to kinda change that conversation?’
Picture: Getty
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.