Bel Powley Says She Was “Touched Inappropriately” in Her Early 20s by Senior Crewmember

Bel Powley has revealed that a senior crewmember on a project she worked on when she was younger “touch[ed] me inappropriately.”

During a recent interview with The Independent, the actress — who stars in NatGeo miniseries A Small Light, which premiered May 1 — detailed her experience working in the industry in her early 20s.

“I’ve had someone grab my arse and basically touch me inappropriately before,” Powley said. “I was too scared to say anything. I was too scared to rock the boat.”

Following the incident, Powley said she “just avoided that person, and it was fine,” but she credits the #MeToo movement for changing the industry and helping women feel protected.

“At the beginning of #MeToo, it was weird,” she added. “For a while, it was like, I feel protected because men are just fucking scared, which was fine too, but now everything’s settled into itself. People have learned, and it’s like there’s a new code of conduct.”

The Morning Show actress did open up about a positive experience she has had on a set — filming intimacy scenes for 2015’s The Diary of a Teenage Girl. Comparing it to other indie projects she has worked on, Powley said she “did have a couple of bad ones where everyone’s too awkward to ask if you’re gonna take your clothes off, and you don’t have it written up properly in the contract.”

She continued, “It’s low-budget, indie, guerrilla-style filming. You’re outside. and suddenly, it’s the scene where you have to get naked and simulate sex, and then you just find yourself doing it because you’re too scared to say no, with a young actor who probably felt just as uncomfortable.”