Julie Andrews believes that she avoided being harassed during her film career because her husband was “highly respected.”
The Mary Poppins star, 84, was married to second husband Blake Edwards, a director, from 1969 until his death in 2010.
She told Radio Times magazine that she had never experienced the kind of harassment that launched the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements, but placed her support behind the campaigns.
“I understand #MeToo very well,” she said. “It’s an important development and it should be recognised.
She said that “a lot of things that were done in the old days were done not consciously, but they have to be changed today.”
Andrews added: “I was very fortunate I didn’t have any harassment in the business because, happily, I was married to Blake who was highly respected and I don’t think people thought to bother with me.
“I started working with him fairly early, so I didn’t have any of that to deal with.
“That said, I’m all for equal pay and respect for women, all the things the #MeToo movement stands for, and I think it will eventually shake into a newer respect for all the right things.
“It’s happening.”
Andrews recently released Home Work, her second memoir co-written with daughter Emma Walton Hamilton, which covers her Hollywood career, looking back at her experiences filming Mary Poppins, The Sound of Music and Victor/Victoria.
This week’s Radio Times is out now.
With additional reporting by Press Association.
