Tony Goldwyn recently revealed that he was sexually harassed as a young actor.
On Monday night, "Access Hollywood" interviewed the "Scandal" star on the red carpet of the 2017 GLSEN Respect Awards. The reporter asked Goldwyn about his recent show of support for Lupita Nyong'o after she came forward with sexual harassment allegations against Harvey Weinstein.
"This is about awareness ... this is not a new thing," Goldwyn said. "It's something that we all need to take responsibility for. The predators in our society and the abusers and the harassers are a small portion of men. But as a man, I feel that me and my brothers need to step up and let women know that we've got their backs."
Nyong'o is one of more than 40 women who have accused Weinstein of some type of sexual misconduct including sexual harassment, assault and rape.
Goldwyn said that he was sexually harassed when he was coming up in the industry.
"It happened to me as a young guy, when I was literally in Lupita's age... my last year of acting school. It happened to me by a man, and it wasn't as extended and awful as what Lupita went through, but it was the same thing," he said. "It was the casting couch, and I didn't understand quite what was going on. I thought it was my fault. I thought I was misunderstanding the situation."
While Goldwyn did not name the perpetrator, he said that he didn't realise what was happening in the moment until it was over.
"It took me a couple of years to get over it. It was similar, in that I got out of the situation," he said. "For a woman, it's something that women have to deal with in every situation in every industry with powerful men."