Dame Joan Collins blasts #MeToo: 'It's hardly suffering'

Dame Joan Collins. Photo / Getty Images

Dame Joan Collins insists actresses should have done more to stop themselves from being sexually harassed.

The 85-year-old actress - who has previously spoken of how she was drugged and raped by her first husband, actor Maxwell Reed - insists many of those who spoke out as part of the #MeToo movement weren't "suffering" and their ordeals could have been avoided if they hadn't put themselves in certain situations or had reacted differently.

She said: "When people ask why I wasn't speaking out about this - I've been speaking out about it for 40 years.

"It seems to me actresses who are saying, you know, 'I went up to this producer and he took his d**k out and I froze.' I mean, I'm sorry, you don't freeze you go, 'Stop that, I'm leaving.'

"I just gave them a knee in the groin. It's hardly suffering. You just didn't put up with it."

And the 'American Horror Story' actress - who has children Tara and Alexander with second husband Anthony Newley and Katyana with third spouse Ron Kass - called on the "strong" women in Hollywood to help out those in less privileged positions.

Speaking about her oldest daughter, who worked in a women's refuge for three years, she told The Observer magazine: "My daughter Tara is a pioneer for women's rights.

"These women in the refuges are having to hide their identities. They've got children and babies and then the husbands try to find them. I remember Tara was crying to me about a year and a half ago because one of the women had gone back and been murdered - that's what happens. Women are abused all over the world. Everybody's very adamant and strong and #MeToo here in Hollywood, but I don't see them opening refuges for women who have been abused."

Meanwhile, Joan - who married fifth husband Percy Gibson in 2002 - claimed her role as Alexis Carrington on 'Dynasty' was cut short because of her high salary.

She said: "I became the highest-paid woman on television only on the last season, and when I reported to work, they said, 'Oh, you're only going to be in 10 episodes because we can't afford you now.'

"I thought that was a bit mean. But then it's a very harsh town, this - you've got to have balls of brass. And you have to be able to absolutely take rejection."

-Bang! Showbiz