Emily Beecham has felt "unsafe" shooting sex scenes.
The 36-year-old actress has welcomed the fact having intimacy coordinators on the set of film and TV shows has become more commonplace because she's not the only woman she knows who's been left in an uncomfortable position when male co-stars have pushed boundaries too far.
She said: “I’ve had friends who have had actors press their erections up against them, and you’ve just got to ignore it. People do blur the lines and they do suddenly try to go ‘method’ with you.
“I think, also, I was very young and I was doing an awful lot of sex scenes. So I did feel quite defensive after a while — a bit unsafe.”
Emily also recalled how she came close to leaving the profession after she was told she looked "ugly" in an audition tape.
She recalled: “Their feedback was, ‘Why does Emily look so ugly in this tape? She looks pretty in her showreel.’
“You have to be quite strong not to let that affect you. And I thought, I can’t carry on like that, it’s a recipe for madness. Right after that I quit. I said, ‘I’m done.’”
Instead of quitting for good, the ‘Pursuit of Love’ star changed agents and decided to only pursue the projects she’d dreamed of doing, and she’s relieved to see the industry is slowly changing.
She said: “I see many more female film-makers, writers and directors now, and making really exciting work.”
Meanwhile, the ‘Little Joe’ actress revealed she was so devastated by the end of her first relationship, her mother took her to a nearby Buddhist monastery.
She told Sunday Times Style magazine: “Oh God, yes! It was so terribly painful. It was awful. Oh, I loved those Buddhist monks.”
The monks taught Emily that “every pain and happiness is temporary” and while the experience made her a big advocate of mindfulness, it’s not always something she enjoys.
She said: “I do try to make myself do it now, but sometimes it’s just so boring.”
