Hollywood actress Florence Pugh has hit out at the acting industry, which she says makes it “exhausting for a young woman”.
The Oxford-born star has, before turning 30, been nominated for an best supporting actress Oscar for Little Women and starred in the Academy Award winning film Oppenheimer as well as blockbuster Marvel film Black Widow.
Pugh, 28, has been outspoken in the past about body shaming, and the pressure on actresses in the film and TV industry.
She told the Sunday Times: “I’m not nasty, I hope people think I’m kind.
“But there are fine lines women have to stay within, otherwise they are called a diva, demanding, problematic.
“And I don’t want to fit into stereotypes made by others.
“It is really exhausting for a young woman to just be in this industry, and actually other industries.
“But I’ve always been encouraged to have a voice.”
She also told the publication that she has been “watching women getting torn apart despite being talented and beautiful”, and she loves “challenging ideas” she does not like.
“I wasn’t trying to challenge, I just wanted to be there, to make space for a version of a person that isn’t all the things they used to have to be,” Pugh said.
“I’m proud I’ve stuck by myself and look the way I look.
“I’m really interested in people who are still angry with me for not losing more weight, or who just hate my nose ring.
“I am not going to be able to just change the way that things are but I can certainly help young women coming into this industry by making conversations happen.”
Pugh starred in science fiction film Dune: Part Two with Timothee Chalamet and Zendaya and romance We Live in Time this year, and is set to be seen next in upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) movie Thunderbolts*.
She will reprise her role as her assassin character Yelena Belova following the character’s appearances in Black Widow and Hawkeye in the film with Hollywood actors Sebastian Stan, and David Harbour.
