Emma Thompson reveals that her daughter blamed herself when she was sexually harassed in a London tube

Actor Emma Thompson has revealed that her daughter, Gaia Wise, was once sexually harassed on public transport. Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour, Thompson, 59, said the incident happened last year when the teenager was travelling on the London Underground.

“My daughter had the experience of being felt up on the tube and felt very nervous about going out on the tube for a long time afterwards,” Thompson said. The Oscar winner said her daughter, now 18, initially blamed herself for the incident and was too scared to speak out.

“She said the thing that upset her most was not the act itself but the fact that she felt cowed enough by it not to call him out. And I think that what we suffer as women most from our shame at not being able to say ‘Why are you doing this?’,” Thompson said.

“We’re so shocked and undermined by these actions that we can’t turn around and take the action that we want and that’s the thing that sits with us and sticks with us. Which is so unjust,” she added.

The Love Actually actor also said that victims tend to be “unkind, to themselves too, whether they were able to defend themselves or not”.

“I think that, generationally, if we can move towards understanding ourselves, understanding those reactions, being compassionate about those reactions and then saying, ‘Now, next time, would I be able to do it differently?’“ she added.

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First Published: Aug 26, 2018 20:40 IST