Olivia Munn Says Studio Offered Her Seven Figures to Sign an NDA After ‘Traumatic’ Set Incident. She Refused: ‘I Felt It Was So Wrong’ and ‘Disrespectful’
Olivia Munn recently appeared on Monica Lewinsky’s “Reclaiming” podcast and revealed she once turned down an offer worth millions of dollars from a studio to sign an NDA after she endured a “traumatic” incident on a movie set. Munn did not name the movie or go into detail about the incident.
“I had to file complaints with the studio, and there’s a lot of other little things that go along with it, but it got to this place where I was offered a lot of money,” Munn said (via E! Online). “Seven figures to accept I guess their apology and them taking acknowledgement of it, but it came along with an NDA. Not that I ever would talk about it truly, because I wanted to move past it all. But I said I’m not signing an NDA, and they said I have to.”
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“I just felt it was so wrong,” she continued. “And at this time specifically, this was in the beginning of #MeToo and Times Up. This was like the reckoning, the Harvey Weinstein reckoning that began it all. This was that time period, and this was when people were targeting anyone who signed an NDA saying, ‘Oh, you only did it for the money,’ so I was afraid that my voice and speaking up would reverse any kind of validity to my voice.”
Munn said she was also hesitant to sign an NDA because she was afraid the studio behind the movie “would leak it out” in “an effort to diminish my voice.” After meeting with lawyers, she walked out of the studio meeting without signing the document.
“I remember feeling so proud when I walked out — so proud of myself,” Munn said, noting that her feistiness and anger over the NDA offer drove her decision. “I did not think about negotiating. I did not think about anything besides how disrespectful that was… Look, was it the right thing to do and do the people in my life think that I did the right thing and are proud of me for that? Yes. It’s not that I wouldn’t have ended up with the same decision, it’s that I made that decision based on anger, and that is something I had to learn how to do rein in and use for my benefit.”
Munn has been outspoken throughout her career regarding injustices on set. She accused director Brett Ratner of sexual harassment in 2017, alleging to The Los Angeles Times that he masturbated in front of her in his trailer when she visited set of his movie “After the Sunset” in 2004. A year after coming forward, Munn went public again to reveal that she reported to 20th Century Fox during the making of 2018’s “Predators” that director Shane Black hired his friend and registered sex offender Steven Wilder Striegel to appear in a small role opposite her. Black ultimately apologized.
Watch Munn’s full appearance on the “Reclaiming” podcast in the video below.
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Olivia Munn Recalls ‘Traumatic’ Experience On Set and ‘Disrespectful’ 7-Figure Settlement She Turned Down
“I know this is a lot of money to you, but it is not a lot of money to me to raise my voice,” Munn remembers telling studio lawyers after reporting an issue
KARWAI TANG/WIREIMAGE
Olivia Munn reflected on “traumatic” events that happened on a former movie set.
In the Feb. 18 episode of Monica Lewinsky’s podcast Reclaiming, the Newsroom actress shared that while filming a movie, which she did not specify, Munn, 44, had “traumatic” experiences that led to her reporting issues to the movie studio.
“I had to file complaints with the studio, and there’s a lot of other little things that go along with it, but it got to this place where I was offered a lot of money,” Munn told Lewinsky. “Seven figures to accept, I guess, their apology and them taking acknowledgement of it. But it came along with an NDA.”
Munn says she never considered discussing publicly what took place on set as she “just wanted to move past it all.” Still, she did not want to sign the non-disclosure agreement.
The actress noted these events took place during the resurgence of the “Me Too” movement, which gained momentum in 2017 after numerous sexual abuse allegations were made against film producer Harvey Weinstein. It peaked when actress Alyssa Milano posted a call-to-action on Twitter for women to share their stories of sexual harassment and assault with the tag “Me Too.”
“This was like the reckoning, the Harvey Weinstein reckoning that began it all. This was that time period, and this was when people were targeting anyone who signed an NDA saying, ‘Oh, you only did it for the money.’ So I was afraid that my voice and speaking up would just reverse any kind of validity to my voice,” Munn said.
Munn was even concerned the studio would “leak” the fact she signed an NDA to “diminish” her actions. While she did take a meeting with lawyers, the actress said she quickly decided she would not go through with a settlement.
“That comes into the feistiness of not thinking things through and being so upset and frustrated that this would be the offer to me. I did not think about negotiating. I did not think about anything besides how disrespectful that was,” she told Lewinsky, adding that she adamantly told her lawyer she wanted to be the one to say she was turning the hefty settlement down.
Munn said a standout moment in the discussion was when one legal representative emphasized in a “disrespectful” way that the actress was being offered “a lot of money.” To that, she replied: “I know this is a lot of money to you, but it is not a lot of money to me to raise my voice.”
Walking out of the meeting, Munn remembered feeling “so proud” of her choice.
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Munn’s projects around the time of the Me Too movement included 2018’s The Predator.
PEOPLE has reached out to Munn for further comment.
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Olivia Munn Rejected 7-Figure Offer to Stay Quiet About “Traumatic” Movie Set Incident
Munn recalls turning down a big payout in order to avoid signing an NDA: “I remember feeling so proud when I walked out.”
BY JAMES HIBBERD
Olivia Munn says she once refused at least a million dollars to agree to stay silent over a traumatic incident that took place on a movie set.
The New Girl and The Newsroom actress was talking to Monica Lewinsky for this week’s episode of her podcast Reclaiming (below), where she recalled the experience. While Munn didn’t detail the incident or name the film, she said it took place around the beginning of the #MeToo era, which got underway around 2017.
“There were things that happened on this movie set, personally to me, that were really not OK and it was so traumatic that I had to file complaints with the studio,” Munn said. “It got to this place where I was offered a lot of money, a lot of money — seven figures — to accept their apology. But it came along with an NDA.”
“Not that I would ever have talked about it, truly, because I just wanted to move past it all,” she continued. “And that’s why I don’t want to talk about the specific things that happened in that situation. But I said, ‘I’m not signing an NDA.’ And they said, ‘You have to.’ And I just felt that it was so wrong. It was the beginning of the #MeToo era and Time’s Up … when people were targeting anyone who signed an NDA and saying, ‘Oh, you only did it for the money.’ So I was afraid, right, that [by signing the NDA it would] reverse any kind of validity to [what happened] … I was concerned that the studio, in an effort to diminish my voice, would leak that I had signed an NDA for money.”
Munn recalled that her lawyer urged her to take some time to think it over, but that she insisted that her decision was firm and that she wanted to tell the other side’s legal team herself. “One person said to me, ‘This is a lot of money, you’d be crazy not to take this,’” she recalled. “And I said to him, ‘I know this is a lot of money to you, but it is not a lot of money for me to lose my voice.’ And we walked out of there, and I remember feeling so proud when I walked out.’”
But then, she recalled with a laugh, came a twist: “Shortly after that, California made NDAs illegal” — so if she had taken the deal, it wouldn’t have been enforceable away.
While Munn wouldn’t say she regretted the decision, she noted, “It’s not that I wouldn’t have ended up with the same decision, it’s that I made that decision based on anger, and that’s something I’ve had to learn to rein in and use for my benefit, and I’ve learned to think about things and take the time and talk it out.”
Munn has spoken out multiple times about on-set misbehavior. In 2017, she was one of six women who accused director Brett Ratner of sexual harassment, with Munn alleging Ratner masturbated in front of her when she was visiting the set of his 2004 film After the Sunset. And when Munn was filming the 2018 movie Predators, she went to studio 20th Century Fox about having to act opposite a registered sex offender who was a longtime friend of director Shane Black.
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