Dakota Johnson says her grandmother Tippi Hedren’s experience in Hollywood went south due to the iconic director Alfred Hitchcock’s “terrorizing” behavior. Hedren worked with the director in The Birds and Marnie, released in 1963 and 1964 respectively.
She said of Hitchcock: "She's always been really honest and firm about standing up for yourself. That's what she did. Alfred] Hitchcock ruined her career because she didn't want to sleep with him, and he terrorized her. He was never held accountable."
In her 2016 memoir, the now-91-year-old star claimed she was sexually assaulted by Hitchcock multiple times while making the films.
"It's completely unacceptable for people in a position of power to wield that power over someone in a weaker position, no matter the industry," Johnson continued, growing emotional. "It's hard to talk about because she's my grandmother. You don't want to imagine somebody taking advantage of your grandmother."
"I think the thing that she's been so amazing for me and with my mother is just like, no you do not put up with that s— from anybody," she told The Hollywood Reporter. "She would say it in a far more eloquent way. She's such a glamorous movie star, still."
Hedren wrote she didn't tell anyone of the assault because "sexual harassment and stalking were terms that didn't exist" in the early 1960s.