Angela Lansbury Says Sexual Harassment Comments Taken 'Out of Context'

As BWW reported yesterday, Angela Lansbury told the UK's Radio Times magazine that women "must sometimes take blame" for sexual harassment. Said the award-winning actress, "We have to own up to the fact that women, since time immemorial, have gone out of their way to make themselves attractive. And unfortunately it has backfired on us - and this is where we are today."

Following a great deal of backlash, the actress issued a statement Wednesday evening, defending her comments and expressing her belief that there is no excuse for men to sexually abuse women. "There is no excuse whatsoever for men to harass women in an abusive sexual manner," said Lansbury. "And, I am devastated that anyone should deem me capable of thinking otherwise. Those who have known the quality of my work and the many public statements I have made over the course of my life, must know, that I am a strong supporter of Women's Rights."

The Tony winner also maintains that her comments from the interview were taken out of context. She explains, "Lastly, I would like to add that I am troubled by how quickly and brutishly some have taken my comments out of context and attempted to blame my generation, my age, or my mindset, without having read the entirety of what I said."

A five-time Tony Award winner and the recipient of an honorary Academy Award, three Academy Award nominations and bestowed with numerous other accolades, Angela Lansbury's career encompasses more than 70 years. She is a beloved member of the Disney family and starred in "Bedknobs and Broomsticks" and voiced Mrs. Potts in the animated classic "Beauty and the Beast." Her roles in film, television and theater range from "Gaslight," "The Picture of DorIan Gray," "The Manchurian Candidate" and "Death on the Nile" to "Murder, She Wrote," "Mame," "Blithe Spirit," "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" and "Gypsy."

Lansbury most recently completed production on Disney's Mary Poppins sequel.

Source: THR

Photo Credit: Walter McBride / WM Photos