Yahoo Lifestyle Olivia Munn Refused To Sign An NDA In Exchange For A 7-Figure Settlement After A "Traumatic" Incident On Set — But Here’s Why She Won't Talk About What Happened
This article contains mentions of sexual harassment.
Olivia Munn revealed that she was once offered a seven-figure deal in exchange for her silence about an incident she experienced on the set of a movie years ago.
Appearing on an episode of Monica Lewinsky's Reclaiming podcast this week, Olivia opened up about a “traumatic” incident which she said occurred at the start of the #MeToo movement.
“There were things that happened on this movie set, personally to me, that were really not OK,” Olivia said.
The New Girl star did not name the exact movie or go into detail — however, she recalled that the events led her to “file complaints with the studio.”
Olivia revealed that her choice to speak up on set led to the offer of a settlement deal in exchange for her silence. “It got to this place where I was offered a lot of money, a lot of money — seven figures, to accept their apology, and [the studio] acknowledging it,” she explained. “But it came along with an NDA.”
“I said, ‘I’m not signing an NDA,’” she continued. “And they said, ‘You have to.’ And I just felt that it was so wrong.”
“The Harvey Weinstein reckoning that began it all — this was that time period. And this is when people were targeting anyone who signed an NDA, saying, ‘You only did it for the money,'” she said.
“So I was afraid that my voice and speaking up would reverse…any kind of validity to my voice,” she said. “And I was concerned that the studio, in an effort to diminish my voice would leak out that I had signed an NDA for money.”
Olivia recalled the legal team advising her to sign, with one saying, “This is a lot of money, you’d be crazy not to take this, are you kidding?” To this, she responded, “I know this is a lot of money to you, but it is not a lot of money for me to lose my voice.”
“I remember feeling so proud when I walked out,” she concluded.
And while Olivia said she doesn’t regret her decision, she acknowledged that she made her choice out of “anger,” saying, “That’s something that I had to learn how to rein in.”
However, despite not signing the NDA and declining the settlement, Olivia still refuses to talk about the incident in detail. She explained her reasoning to Monica, saying, “Not that I would ever have talked about it, truly, because I just wanted to move past it all. And that’s why I don’t want to talk about the specific things that happened in that situation.”
While Olivia is maintaining her silence on the incident, she has joined other women in speaking out against industry abuse in the past.
In 2017, she joined six other women in accusing director Brett Ratner of sexual harassment, alleging that he had masturbated in front of her while she was visiting the set of After the Sunset in 2004. Brett’s lawyer “categorically” denied the allegations. And the next year, Olivia shared that during production of Shane Black’s The Predator, she had reported to 20th Century Fox when registered sex offender Steven Wilder Striegel — a friend of the director — was cast.
You can watch Olivia's full appearance on the Reclaiming podcast here.
If you or someone you know has experienced sexual assault, you can call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-737-732, available 24/7. You can also search for your local centre here.
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