Hollywood's Leading Women Open Up to Oprah About 'Time's Up' on CBS SUNDAY MORNING

Some of the most prominent women in Hollywood open up to Oprah Winfrey in a revealing discussion for CBS SUNDAY MORNING about the impact of the TIME'S UP campaign raising awareness of sexual harassment in the workplace, and what they'd like to see in the future. The interview will be broadcast Sunday, January 14, 2018 (9:00 AM ET) on the CBS Television Network.

Actresses Reese Witherspoon, America Ferrera, Natalie Portman, Tracee Ellis Ross, prolific producer Shonda Rimes, Lucasfilm President Kathleen KENNEDY and attorney Nina Shaw gathered with Winfrey in Pasadena, California, earlier this week to talk about the efforts to bring change to how women are treated in the entertainment industry and around the world.

"There's moments that you have to evaluate whether silence is going to be your only option," says Witherspoon. "And certain times that was our only option. But now is not that time."

Witherspoon talks about the fact that she was sexually assaulted by a director when she was just 16.

There is no playbook for these times, especially when it comes to how people should talk about the topic - or to each other, Winfrey notes.

"How do we as a society have a mature, nuanced conversation about how men and women should be relating to each other? Because there's so many men and women now who are uncomfortable in their workplaces because of all that's been UNCOVERED and aren't just really sure how to be. What do we say to them?" Winfrey asks.

"We're humans. We're all humans," Natalie Portman says. "And I think it's treating people as fellow humans and - and it's not because you have a daughter that you respect a woman, it's not because you have a wife or a sister, it's because we're human beings, whether we're related to a man or not. We deserve the same respect."

The women are among more than a 1,000 people - men and women - who signed on to support Time's Up, which is designed to address sexual harassment in the workplace in all fields.

"At this moment it's a campaign," says Tracee Ellis Ross. "And we're all sort of workers among workers and women among women, sort of rolling up our sleeves and doing whatever sort of comes to the forefront."

During the wide-ranging discussion, panel members talk with Winfrey about some of their own experiences, the goals and messages behind the TIME'S UP campaign, and how the program may help women in workplaces without the bright spotlight of the entertainment business.

"You know, we have public voices. We have resources," says Witherspoon. "But women who are workers in this country have nothing to gain in certain times by coming forward. But we, we want to help. Like it gives me strength to hopefully help other women."

Continues Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy, "We have to maintain the momentum of this conversation because they can't."

CBS SUNDAY MORNING is broadcast Sundays (9:00-10:30 AM ET) on the CBS Television Network. Rand Morrison is the executive producer.

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