Angela Lansbury: attractive women must sometimes ‘take blame’ for sex abuse

Veteran actor Dame Angela Lansbury has sparked outrage by claiming that women must sometimes “take blame” for sexual harassment and abuse since they “go out of their way to make themselves attractive”.

The 92-year-old former star of Murder She Wrote made the controversial comments during an interview with the Radio Times.

She said: “There are two sides to this coin. We have to own up to the fact that women, since time immemorial, have gone out of their way to make themselves attractive. And, unfortunately, it has backfired on us - and this is where we are today.

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“We must sometimes take blame, women. I really do think that. Although it’s awful to say we can’t make ourselves look as attractive as possible without being knocked down and raped.”

The Daily Telegraph reports that while “other Hollywood actresses have condemned the stories that have surfaced since the Harvey Weinstein scandal broke, Dame Angela offered a strikingly different take” on the situation.

Following her comments, sexual violence charity Rape Crisis England and Wales said in a statement: “It is a deeply unhelpful myth that rape and other forms of sexual violence are caused or ‘provoked’ by women’s sexuality or ‘attractiveness’.”

Meanwhile, many Twitter users responded with anger and mockery.

But others came to the defence of the actress, insisting she was entitled to voice her opinions.