Hugh Sheridan says actors/actresses treated as ‘disposable objects’

AUSSIE actor Hugh Sheridan, who has spent the past year living in Los Angeles, says he isn’t surprised by the number of women coming forward in the wake of the sexual harassment scandal and he too has been treated as an “object”.

PROUD feminist Hugh Sheridan believes the problem in Hollywood is that actors and entertainers are treated as “disposable objects”.

The 32-year-old Australian actor, who has spent the year living in Los Angeles, said he hadn’t been surprised by the number of women coming forward in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein sexual harassment scandal.

“I think the entertainment industry is very harsh,” he said.

“I was giving a talk at WAAPA (Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts) last week and I said ‘I’m not going to sugar-coat it – when you leave drama school you’re going to realise that as an actor you’re going to be treated like an object, you get treated as something that’s quite disposable by networks and directors’.”

“And that’s me as a guy. I think women suffer more because they can be degraded and seen not just as objects but sexual objects.”

Hugh Sheridan with Rebel Wilson at the 2016 MTV Movie Awards. Picture: Christopher Polk/Getty Images for MTV

One of the women to make their claims public was Rebel Wilson, a close friend of Sheridan having recently filmed new comedy Isn’t It Romantic together in New York.

“She told me a story about her first audition she walked into and they said ‘no way, you’re terrible get out’,” he said. “I’m an active feminist and I’m proud to say that. I’ve got three sisters and a strong mother ... and it’s great that all the s--- is rising to the surface.”

Having starred in Packed to the Rafters and House Husbands, Sheridan believes his career is at a point where he can be selective.

He is preparing to film Fox International’s The Call Back alongside Valkyrie’s Eddie Izzard in Adelaide this month, and he was announced as the face of Sheridan’s Towel Man campaign in what was a full circle moment for the actor.

“I was working as a cleaner during drama school and people would say ‘are you Sheridan as in Sheridan sheets?’ and for a while I would go ‘yeah, I am actually’ but then people would assume I was rich,” he said.

Originally published as Hugh Sheridan says actors/actresses treated as ‘disposable objects’