When Jennifer Garner was honored by Elle magazine at its annual Women in Hollywood event Monday night, the actress took the opportunity to share her personal experience with sexism in the film industry.
“The fact that there even needs to be a Women in Hollywood event is a little bit sad,” the 42-year-old actress told the audience during a rousing speech, according to E! News. “I mean, the men in Hollywood event is every day — it’s called Hollywood. Fifty-one percent of the population should not have to have to schedule a special event to celebrate the fact that in an art that tells the story of what it means to be human and alive, we get to play a part.”
She went on to break down the difference between how she and her husband, Ben Affleck, are treated.
“So for example, my husband and I do kind of the same job, a little bit,” she said. “Not long ago we both had one of those magical days, we call it a junket, where we both attended these lovely events where people come in every four minutes, they ask the same questions over and over again, you know the drill.”
“We got home at night and we compared notes,” she continued. “And I told him every single person who interviewed me, I mean every single one, and this is true of the red carpet here tonight at Elle, asked me, ‘How do you balance work and family?’ And he said the only thing that people asked him repeatedly was about the t**s on the ‘Blurred Lines’ girl, which, for the record if we’re talking about them, they are real and they are fabulous.”
Garner was referring to model Emily Ratajkowski, who appeared in Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines” video and is Affleck’s co-star in his latest flick, “Gone Girl.”
After pausing for laughter, Garner continued, “As for work-life balance, he said no one asked him about it that day. As a matter of fact, no one had ever asked him about it. And we do share the same family. Isn’t it time to kinda change that conversation?”
In addition to Garner, Elle’s other honorees included Elizabeth Banks, Annette Bening, Jessica Lange, Brie Larson, Tina Fey, Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Zoe Saldana.
