Ruth Wilson is opening up about her decision to leave Showtime‘s The Affair. In 2019, sources involved in the production told The Hollywood Reporter that the 38-year-old was unhappy “with the nudity required of her” and “what she ultimately felt was a hostile work environment.”
She told Stylist in a new interview, which also discussed her role in HBO‘s His Dark Materials: “The reason I haven’t gone into The Affair is that I haven’t worked out how to discuss it,” she told the magazine. “There’s a lot of noise and anger surrounding it, and really the power rests with me to choose how I discuss my life and my experiences.”
“What’s important to say is that I did speak up. I did have a voice. I did stand up for myself,” Wilson told Stylist. “There was a situation on The Affair where things didn’t feel right, and I dealt with them, and I managed to protect myself.”
She added, “It was before #MeToo and before Harvey Weinstein — and yet my instincts were very clear and strong about what I felt was wrong, about what was going on, and what I didn’t feel safe about.”
In 2018, she told The New York Times that it wasn't “about pay parity, and it wasn't about other jobs, but I'm not really allowed to talk about it,” encouraging them to contact showrunner Sarah Treem for more: “There is a much bigger story.”