Meryl Streep calls out Melania and Ivanka Trump for their silence on sexual misconduct

“I don’t want to hear about the silence of me. I want to hear about the silence of Melania Trump. I want to hear from her..."

By Jonathan Borge

From the editors of InStyle US

In an interview with the New York Times, Oscar winner Meryl Streep directly calls out First Lady Melania Trump and President Donald Trump’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, for not speaking out about the sexual misconduct stories that rocked workplaces beyond Hollywood in 2017.

Streep released a statement in October denouncing movie mogul’s Harvey Weinstein’s actions, which were detailed in a Times exposé. However, she was later publicly criticised by Rose McGowan, to which Streep responded, “It hurt to be attacked by Rose McGowan in banner headlines this weekend, but I want to let her know I did not know about Weinstein’s crimes, not in the 90s when he attacked her, or through subsequent decades when he proceeded to attack others.”

In the new Times interview, Streep explains why she didn't immediately release a statement when the story broke. “I really had to think. Because it really underlined my own sense of cluelessness, and also how evil, deeply evil, and duplicitous, a person he was, yet such a champion of really great work,” she told the Times.

“You make movies. You think you know everything about everybody. So much gossip. You don’t know anything. People are inscrutable on a certain level. And it’s a shock. Some of my favourite people have been brought down by this, and he’s not one of them.”

She also shared her thoughts on the fact that many members of the public were waiting to for her to speak out. “I don’t want to hear about the silence of me. I want to hear about the silence of Melania Trump. I want to hear from her. She has so much that’s valuable to say. And so does Ivanka. I want her to speak now,” she said.

President Trump has been accused of alleged sexual misconduct by multiple women in the past.

Streep moved on to talk about her own experiences with misconduct in Hollywood. “I have experienced things, mostly when I was young and pretty. Nobody comes on to me [now]. So I wouldn’t have had that more recently,” she said.