Anna Friel has suggested her career was damaged by rejecting unwanted attention from a producer.
The ‘Marcella’ actress briefly opened up earlier this year about experiencing "advances" from an Amazon boss in 2016 and though she doesn’t want to be drawn on the matter, she’s thankful she’s a "tough cookie", even if that’s brought along negative consequences.
She said: "I think it’s up to each individual how much they want to talk about it or how much they don’t.
"There were so many other people who had stories to tell and such important stories of horror, that they needed to do that.
"I’ve always been somewhat a tough cookie. I’ve been in the business since I was 13.
"I won’t go into detail about how I think things might have had an effect because I’ve managed to overcome them.
"But I could say no quite loudly. And I probably did suffer the consequences."
Asked if she means in terms of advancing her career, she said: "I think that says enough."
Though Anna is keen for there to be "equality" in the workplace, she thinks people are growing over-cautious and preventing progress.
She told Grazia magazine: "I just want there to be equality and fairness and us all working together.
"I still love the old-fashioned men and women being able to flirt.
"And I think there’s so many guidelines, we’re not going to be able to know how to move forward."
But the 42-year-old star is pleased there’s been a lot of progress made in terms of roles for older actresses.
She said: "I don’t think the age barrier is being as enforced as it once was. I’ve got work up until 2021 and I’m not slowing down."
However, the former ‘Pushing Daisies’ star thinks there’s more pressure than ever on women to look good.
She said: "It’s getting worse. Look at the amount of reality TV programmes. And retouching – I can’t bear it. It just makes it impossible for anyone to live up to.
"We’re creating a fabricated world."
Anna Friel ‘suffered consequences’ of saying no
