Game of Thrones‘ Natalie Dormer has been all over the internet this week, as she carries the brunt of the promo work for her new BBC period piece, The Scandalous Lady W. It’s about the wife of a British lord who is sued by her husband after leaving him for his best friend. To defend herself from financial ruin, she must go before the court and confess all the liaisons she and her former husband engaged in over the years.
Themes about sex and gender run through the whole thing, so of course that’s what Dormer ended up talking about in a lot of interviews. But now she’s not too happy with how the press is twisting some of her words. Here’s part of a lengthy statement Natalie made to a website called Gossip Cop, saying she is absolutely, 100 percent against sex with minors:
“I have been troubled and deeply saddened that answers I gave in a few recent interviews have been so twisted on the Internet, or so taken out of context, as to completely misrepresent my thoughts on certain subjects,” writes Dormer in an exclusive statement to Gossip Cop. She explains, “I want to set the record straight: It is completely false and profoundly [irresponsible] of anyone to imply that I condone, in any shape or form, sex with a minor. That is child abuse. A serious criminal act, that is completely abhorrent to me.”
Wait, what? Where did all this come from? It all stems from a quote she made to Michigan Avenue regarding her Game of Thrones character’s seduction of Prince Tommen, whose character is 12 years old.
Last season found Margaery in what might have been the most uncomfortable sex scene ever broadcast on television that did not actually involve sex. The boy king, Tommen Baratheon, played by Dean Charles Chapman, made Margaery his queen—with all the carnal clutching and gasping such a royal union involves on a show like Thrones. Fans were agog. Chapman is 17 but playing 12, an age gap that set off a Twitter storm even though the hook-up was mostly implied (viewers saw the couple waking up in bed without their clothes, and there was a brief kiss). Dormer finds the fuss a little irritating. “After what we’ve done on this show—the rape, the incest, the child murdering—it baffles me that two people in a reasonably good, reasonably affectionate relationship is what gets the wide eyes and the questions.”
Yes, that quote was twisted by some outlets to imply Natalie Dormer doesn’t think sex with minors is a big deal. That understandably pissed her off, considering she’s actually worked with several organizations like Plan UK, Barnardo’s, and the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children to fight that kind of thing.
That’s gotta be one of the worst twistings of a quote I’ve seen in a while. The other “controversial” statement she wants to clarify… well, it probably needed the clarification Natalie provided. Here’s what the Radio Times had her saying regarding sexism in show-business, and Maggie Gyllenhaal’s recent complaint that she’s too old at 37 to play the love interest of a 55-year-old man:
“I haven’t got that problem yet! But if you mean there’s a double standard, of course there is. Maggie Gyllenhaal has a great career. She might be bitching about it, but she’s navigating it. If I could have a career like hers, I’d be very happy.”
…
“That is not exclusive to show business. Maybe the discussion is just more open in show business. I believe that perseverance will out, that if you’re good and you work hard, everyone will notice.”
Here’s Natalie’s statement to Gossip Cop on that:
“To be clear: I absolutely did not make the naive, reductive statement that ‘hard work’ is enough to overcome ageism and sexism in the industry. That would be an absurd thing to say. I would never be so flippant or ignorant on such matters,” stresses the Game of Thrones star.
Dormer ends her remarks: “We should use storytelling to draw attention to the real injustices and social abuses of the world. Most actors really care about those real world abuses. You’ll tend to find it’s one of the reasons they became actors.”
Amen, Natalie. There’s nothing to imply that Dormer is flippant about sex with minors or gender issues at play in Hollywood and beyond. If anything, she’s been a pretty diligent worker at fighting against both, standing up for feminism while pushing back against oversensitive fans who think her roles have problematic undertones. This just goes to prove once again that boiling someone’s views down to a paragraph or two is a great way to misrepresent them and their actual beliefs.
Natalie Dormer does not support sex with minors, and it’s ridiculous that she had to come out and make a statement clarifying that.
(via Gossip Cop)
