The effect of the #MeToo movement in Hollywood seems to truly be making a difference for some who have long felt silenced. It’s also helped shine light on abuses outside of sexual harassment and assault, given a chance at relief for many others. Alex Winter of Bill And Ted and The Lost Boys fame is the most recent to come out about his own abuse experience, opening up during a recent BBC interview about how the #MeToo movement was a “light bulb” moment for many that made it easier to share according to Deadline:
“Had I been older, had I had more resources, every victim goes through this whether they’re a child or adult rape victim, you hear this over and over again. All of that was irrelevant because I only had the resources I had and it was absolutely taboo in the popular vernaculars so I didn’t feel like I had any place of safety to unlock an extremely sensitive and potentially dangerous secret because there is a power dynamic that does put you in a place where you’re afraid for your own safety,”
He continues, praising the current climate in Hollywood and elsewhere for giving those who felt similar to him a chance to speak out without fear:
“That’s the vital importance of whatever’s going on that the moment and it’s going to keep on going is that, had I existed in a culture that’s like the one that is happening at this moment, that’s a very different culture. These sorts of things are now being spoken about, in a much more accepting way on a societal level, it gives you a lot more freedom to tell anybody because usually you’re not telling anybody. That’s a very dangerous place to be in mentally.
“I never thought in my lifetime that I would ever be… sitting here talking to a BBC radio person about my childhood sexual abuse,”
Winter adds that he has worked through his experience and moved on, adding, “I love my career, I love my family and my kids. I feel incredibly lucky.” He also talked a bit about Bill And Ted, the future film in the series, and how it was a “therapeutic” experience after dealing with the abuse he suffered earlier in his life. If anything, there’s a positive spin to an otherwise terrible story. Also once again shows the power of Bill And Ted to heal the world.
(Via Deadline)