Hollywood and women’s empowerment have not always been agreeable together. After raising voices for several decades, feminism and equal rights, women’s issues have somewhat gained traction. But way before the #MeToo Movement brought a massive change in Hollywood, many celebrities talked negatively about women. One such person is Sean Connery.
Our beloved James Bond and Indiana Jones actor passed some very questionable statements in his lifetime. Unfortunately, Sean Connery passed away in 2020. But some of his statements about violence against women have resurfaced.
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When Sean Connery Defended Physical Abuse Against Women
The ‘From Russia with Love’ actor’s comments about slapping women are nothing less than problematic. “I don’t think there is anything particularly wrong about hitting a woman, although I don’t recommend doing it in the same way that you’d hit a man,” Sean Connery said when talking to Playboy. He further described an openhanded slap as justified. Connery added, “If all other alternatives fail and there has been plenty of warning. If a woman is a bitch, or hysterical, or bloody-minded continually, then I’d do it.”
This is not all, years later in another interview with Barbara Walters in 1987, Sean Connery again talked about his comments in Playboy. “I haven’t changed my opinion… If you have tried everything else – and women are pretty good at this – they can’t leave it alone. They want to have the last word and you give them the last word, but they’re not happy with the last word. They want to say it again, and get into a really provocative situation, then I think it’s absolutely right,” he said.
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Sean Connery Was Accused Of Abuse By His Ex-wife
As if his comments in interviews were not enough, Sean Connery was also accused of being abusive towards his ex-wife. Diane Cilento, who was married to Connery from 1962 to 1973, made this accusation in her autobiography ‘My Nine Lives’. However, Sean Connery denied these accusations.
In an interview with Vanity Fair, Sean Connery talked about how his comments were taken out of context. “But I was really saying that to slap a woman was not the crudest thing you can do to her. I said that in my book—it’s much more cruel to psychologically damage somebody… to put them in such distress that they really come to hate themselves,” said Connery. “Sometimes there are women who take it to the wire. That’s what they’re looking for, the ultimate confrontation—they want a smack.”
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