Megan Fox clarifies viral story about her 'Transformers' audition and says she wasn't 'preyed upon' by Michael Bay
- Megan Fox released a statement on Monday to address online discussions that erupted after her 2009 interview on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" went viral.
- After watching the interview, fans accused director Michael Bay of sexualizing Fox when she was a 15-year-old extra in "Bad Boys II."
- Though she thanked fans for their support, the actress clarified resurfaced stories about Bay to ensure that people's opinions are "seeded in the facts of the events."
- "These specific instances were inconsequential in a long and arduous journey along which I have endured some genuinely harrowing experiences in a ruthlessly misogynistic industry," she wrote.
- Fox continued to say that she could list names that "deserve" to be "going viral" for their behavior, but said that she never felt "assaulted or preyed upon" by Bay.
Megan Fox responded to the online discussions about her experiences in Hollywood on Monday after her 2009 interview on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" went viral.
In the resurfaced interview, Fox described being cast as an extra in "Bad Boys II" when she was 15. Because she wasn't old enough to legally sit at the bar or hold a drink in a club scene, Fox said director Michael Bay's solution was to have her dance underneath a waterfall to get "soaking wet."
Fans demanded an apology from Bay, accusing him of sexualizing a minor and blacklisting her from future projects after she likened him to Adolf Hitler in a 2009 interview with Wonderland magazine.
On Monday, Fox, who's since made amends with the director, released a statement on Instagram addressing the claims.
She thanked fans for their support but said she felt the need to "clarify some of the details as they have been lost in the retelling of the events and cast a sinister shadow that doesn't really, in my opinion, belong."
The actress confirmed that she was "15 or 16" years old when she was an extra in "Bad Boys II" and "19 or 20" when she auditioned for "Transformers." Though there were reports that Fox washed Bay's Ferrari at his home to get the part, Fox denied the validity of those claims.
Though she did pretend to work on Bay's Ferrari as part of her audition, Fox said it took place at the Platinum Dunes parking lot with crew members and employees present, clarifying that she wasn't underage or "undressed" at any point.
"I hope that whatever opinions are formed around these episodes will at least be seeded in the facts of the events," she wrote.
Fox said that the events dominating the discussion are "inconsequential in a long and arduous journey along which I have endured some genuinely harrowing experiences in a ruthlessly misogynistic industry."
Though the actress said she could rattle off names of individuals who "deserve to be going viral in cancel culture," she pointed out that Bay, and "Transformers" executive producer Steven Spielberg, do not belong on that list.
"When it comes to my direct experiences with Michael, and Steven for that matter, I was never assaulted or preyed upon in what I felt was a sexual manner," she wrote.
While Fox responded to the resurfaced interviews and comments, she refrained from speaking up during movements like #MeToo or Times Up.
During a 2018 interview with The New York Times, she said she has "quite a few stories" about sexism and abuse of power but would likely be victim-shamed if she spoke up based on her previous experiences.
"I just didn't think based on how I'd been received by people, and by feminists, that I would be a sympathetic victim. And I thought if ever there were a time where the world would agree that it's appropriate to victim-shame someone, it would be when I come forward with my story," she said.
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