Image: Vanity Fair
Jennifer Lawrence has spoken out regarding the nude photos that were leaked of her last month, branding the hacking a “sex crime.”
The Hunger Games actress Lawrence revealed her thoughts on the leaking and sharing of naked photos of her in an interview with Vanity Fair, saying: “Just because I’m a public figure, just because I’m an actress, does not mean that I asked for this. It does not mean that it comes with the territory. It’s my body, and it should be my choice, and the fact that it is not my choice is absolutely disgusting.”
The photos were made available via an iCloud leak, with them then being distributed on 4chan and Reddit. A subreddit titled “TheFappening” was then created, which was shut down to it violating Reddit’s terms of use. Reddit was heavily criticised for not shutting it down sooner, with a blog post stating that users have “the right to choose between right and wrong, good and evil and that it is your responsibility to do so.” Reddit only removed the subreddit when it was made clear that it was breaching US laws due to the unlawful distribution of the images.
Image: Vanity Fair
The Oscar-winning actress continued: “I don’t have anything to say I’m sorry for. I was in a loving, healthy, great relationship for four years. It was long distance, and either your boyfriend is going to look at porn or he’s going to look at you.”
She added: “It is not a scandal. It is a sex crime. It is a sexual violation. It’s disgusting. The law needs to be changed, and we need to change. That’s why these websites are responsible. Just the fact that somebody can be sexually exploited and violated, and the first thought that crosses somebody’s mind is to make a profit from it.
“You should cower with shame. Even people who I know and love say, ‘Oh, yeah, I looked at the pictures.’ I don’t want to get mad, but at the same time I’m thinking, I didn’t tell you that you could look at my naked body.”
Lawrence was not the only celebrity who saw leaked photos of themselves litter the Internet. The likes of Kate Upton, Kim Kardashian, Rihanna and Kaley Cuoco were also hacked, leading to an FBI investigation that saw the perpetrator allegedly being forced into hiding.
Lawrence revealed that telling her father of the existence of the photos was the most difficult thing for her to deal with, saying: “When I have to make that phone call to my dad and tell him what’s happened… I don’t care how much money I get for The Hunger Games, I promise you, anybody given the choice of that kind of money or having to make a phone call to tell your dad that something like that has happened, it’s not worth it.”
