Zoe Saldana Was Hired Because Of The Way She ?Held A Gun While Wearing Panties?

This story has us feeling outraged today. The past few weeks have seen what we think is a spike in sexism-towards-women stories in Hollywood, and now actress Zoe Saldana is the latest to speak out about the horrid way she was treated by an unnamed producer on one of her films.

While promoting her latest movie Infinitely Polar Bear, the 37-year-old actress told E! News, “A producer once told me he hired me for the way I held a gun while wearing panties, not for my opinions,? she said.

?I wish I’d recorded it, so I could play it for every girl in elementary school and tell them never to let anybody treat them that way.” Saldana didn’t name the producer or the film, but this isn’t the first time that the star has spoken out on the issue. In exposing the darker side of the film industry, she previously told the media that she was almost fired from a film project after producers discovered she was pregnant with her twin boys.

“Let me tell you something, it will never be the right time for anybody in your life that you get pregnant,” Saldana said. She revealed that last year “the productions I was slated to work on sort of had a panic.” She adds, “I heard through the grapevine there was even a conversation of me being written off of one of the projects.”

She was understandably angered at this. “I was like, ‘Oh, my God, are you kidding me? It’s this bad?’ “She added. “Right when I just feel super-duper happy, is that inconvenient for you? That me, as a woman in my thirties, I finally am in love and I am finally starting my life? And it’s (screwing) your schedule up? Really?”

The actress didn’t end up losing any film roles, but to add fuel to the fire, she did say she had a frustrating time fighting to get child care covered by the studios but said the male movie stars frequently get ?bigged up? and have their needs taken care of by the studios. She simply got told, ?Nope, we don’t pay for nannies.?

Why this sort of thing is still happening today is really beyond us, and we don’t blame Saldana for feeling furious. It’s a fantastic thing to see so many leading ladies like Saldana and Rose McGowan speak out against such blatant sexism, and we can only hope that this one day leads to women being seen as they should be; fully equal to their male counterparts.

Via E! News