'Will not get coerced into an apology': Pamela Anderson on her controversial Harvey Weinstein claim
"You know what you're getting into when you go to a hotel room alone," she said on the Today show.
Pamela Anderson has claimed that she was not "victim blaming" when commenting on the Harvey Weinstein sex abuse scandal, saying the accusers "knew what they were getting into".
While calling the disgraced movie mogul "a sexist pig and a bully", the Baywatch star told TMZ that she "would not get coerced into an apology" for the comments she made on the Today show as she never said women deserve to be abused. However, she believes that women should take precautions to efend themselves against assault and harassment.
"There are a lot of self-protection courses. There is even a well-known story of suffragettes learning martial arts," she told the celebrity news website. "Women [must be] aware of certain problems and how to spot them and fight them. It is totally hypocritical to ignore this."
Anderson sparked controversy when she appeared on the Today show and told host Megyn Kelly that she has learnt never to put herself in situations in which she can be sexually abused while talking about her own childhood sexual abuse.
In 2014, Anderson opened up about her horrifying sexual abuse and rape, saying that she was just six when she was molested by a female babysitter and raped twice when she was 12 and 16.
"When I came to Hollywood, of course, I had a lot of offers to do private auditions and things that make absolutely no sense. Just common sense," she was quoted as saying by NME.
She continued, "Don't go into a hotel room alone. If someone answers a door in a bathrobe, leave. Things that are common sense. But I know Hollywood is very seductive and people want to be famous and sometimes you think you're going to be safe with an adult in the room."
Anderson also said she was not surprised about the allegations levied against Harvey.
"I think it was common knowledge that certain producers and certain people in Hollywood are people to avoid, privately," she added. "You know what you're getting into when you go to a hotel room alone."