Debra Messing shared how a director once told her she needed plastic surgery, and WTF!?
Unfortunately, we hear about sexist things happening in Hollywood all the time, and now Debra Messing has added her own horrific story to the growing pile of misogyny and trash behavior.
2017 is already looking up as it was revealed that Will & Grace was coming back to NBC this fall. That means that there’ll be more Debra Messing on our screens come Autumn, and that’s a-okay with us. What’s more, Messing has been vocal in her support of women’s rights recently.
That’s why she decided to speak up about her own awful experience on one of her first acting jobs.
Speaking at the MAKERS conference in Paso Robles, California, Messing told how the incident occurred when she was filming the movie A Walk in the Clouds in 1995.
“I’d never been in a film before,” she said to Elle.com before recounting the experience to the rest of the conference. “I was doing a love scene with Keanu Reeves. We started filming and the very famous director screamed ‘Cut’ and said, ‘How quickly can we get a plastic surgeon in here? Her nose is ruining my movie.’”
Messing went on to say that while she was confident coming out of grad-school and felt that she was well equipped for the real world, she found it traumatic to be “reduced to an un-Hollywood nose.”
The director in question, Alfonso Arau, also abused his position of power by asking Messing to film an unplanned nude scene where he lifted a sheet covering her to get a look at her naked body. “He dropped the sheet on top of me like a used Kleenex, then walked away without a word,” she said. “It turns out, after all this trauma, the only part of my body that’s seen naked in the film is my back.”
Continuing, Debra Messing said that over the years, however, she’s embraced what makes her different.
"It's taken me years and years and years to finally own my differences and to love what's different about me, and to come face to face with a truth within my industry, within our culture," she said. "There is a very narrow definition of what a beautiful, vital, vibrant, interesting woman looks like, and that's the thing we're constantly fighting against. My entire career I've been swimming in that pond, where it's like, 'Oh no, you don't look right.'"
Finishing she added: “I have a strong nose, I have small breasts. I’m a fucking original. My nose and I have come this far, and like Barbra Streisand I’m defiantly keeping it.”
Tbh, we’re so proud of Debra Messing for opening up about her experiences. Not only is it important to shine a light on the abhorrent sexism and misogyny that occurs everyday, but her resoluteness and self-love is so inspiring, and will hopefully have an impact on many people.
Meanwhile, we’re counting down the days until Will & Grace is back on our screens!