Julianne Moore is pleased the #MeToo movement is bringing "important" change to the way people act.
The 58-year-old actress says she no longer "tolerates" men who engage in "inappropriate touching", and is glad that movements like #MeToo and Time’s Up are bringing about a "discussion" into sexual misconduct.
She said: "We’ve been inculcated with this idea that men were allowed to do certain things. Even something casual, like a man you didn’t know kissing you hello rather than shaking your hand – we used to tolerate that because we were told: ‘He doesn’t mean anything by it, he’s just being friendly.’
"My husband and I were discussing just this, and he said: ‘That kind of stuff’s okay at a family party.’ And I said ‘No, it’s not.’ I remember someone who was that way when I was a kid and I was uncomfortable and I couldn’t say anything.
"The only person I could say something to was my sister, and she felt the same way. So this sort of discussion is a real change, and it’s important."
The ‘Still Alice’ actress – who is married to Bart Freundlinch, with whom she has children Caleb, 21, and Liv, 17 – also spoke about taking control of her own life, which she says didn’t happen until she was in her 30s.
Speaking to Tatler magazine, she said: "It wasn’t until I was in my early 30s and I was really unhappy that I realised I hadn’t made my personal life a priority. I realised: ‘I really want this. I want to be married. I want to have children.’
"Growing up in the late ’70s, I definitely got the message that it was important to have a career and that I had to work to make that happen. But there was this idea that you don’t need to work for your personal life – that it was supposed to be like a romantic comedy: you meet someone, have a couple of dates and there you go.
"That’s just not true. Life is finite. This idea that you can do whatever you want at whatever time, it’s not true in terms of work and it’s not true in terms of having a family."
Julianne Moore praises #MeToo for starting an ‘important’ conversation
