Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Lawrence has had the last word on the celebrity nude photo scandal in an interview with Vanity Fair – and she’s not sorry.
“It is not a scandal. It is a sex crime,” the 24-year old told the magazine’s November issue, in which she graces the cover shot by Patrick Demarchelier.
“It is a sexual violation. It’s disgusting. The law needs to be changed, and we need to change. That’s why these Web sites are responsible. Just the fact that somebody can be sexually exploited and violated, and the first thought that crosses somebody’s mind is to make a profit from it. It’s so beyond me. I just can’t imagine being that detached from humanity. I can’t imagine being that thoughtless and careless and so empty inside.”
“Just because I’m a public figure, just because I’m an actress, does not mean that I asked for this,” she says. “It does not mean that it comes with the territory. It’s my body, and it should be my choice, and the fact that it is not my choice is absolutely disgusting. I can’t believe that we even live in that kind of world. ”
She also reveals that she attempted to write a statement when the photos were initially leaked, but “every single thing that I tried to write made me cry or get angry. I started to write an apology, but I don’t have anything to say I’m sorry for. I was in a loving, healthy, great relationship for four years. It was long distance, and either your boyfriend is going to look at porn or he’s going to look at you.”
She tells the magazine, “Anybody who looked at those pictures, you’re perpetuating a sexual offense. You should cower with shame. Even people who I know and love say, ‘Oh, yeah, I looked at the pictures.’ I don’t want to get mad, but at the same time I’m thinking, I didn’t tell you that you could look at my naked body.”
Lawrence goes on to offer her opinion on the websites that published the stolen photos of her. “You have a choice. You don’t have to be a person who spreads negativity and lies for a living. You can do something good. You can be good. Let’s just make that choice and—it feels better.”
Just like the Jennifer we know and love, she concludes with a statement befitting of the heroines she portrays, “Time does heal, you know. I’m not crying about it anymore. I can’t be angry anymore. I can’t have my happiness rest on these people being caught, because they might not be. I need to just find my own peace.”
Image credit: Jennifer Lawrence for Vanity Fair November 2014 issue photographed by Patrick Demarchelier.