When hackers published private nude photographs of Jennifer Lawrence in August—and legions of so-called fans helped spread them around the Internet—Lawrence attempted to pen a statement in response. But “every single thing that I tried to write made me cry or get angry,” she tells Vanity Fair. “I was just so afraid. I didn’t know how this would affect my career.”
Now, Lawrence is speaking out in the magazine’s November issue—she appears on the cover under a line that reads, “It’s my body, and it should be my choice”—and she’s openly acknowledging all the fear, anger, disgust, confusion, and even grim irony she experienced in the wake of the photos’ publication. In a preview of the interview published today, Lawrence responds to critics who scolded that she should have never taken the photographs at all: “I started to write an apology, but I don’t have anything to say I’m sorry for. I was in a loving, healthy, great relationship for four years.” She demolishes the presumption that a female sex symbol should have to laugh off the violation in order to preserve her cool, sexy image: “Just because I’m a public figure, just because I’m an actress, does not mean that I asked for this,” she says. “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.” She challenges lawmakers and law enforcement officials to hold perpetrators accountable for revenge porn: “It is not a scandal. It is a sex crime,” she tells VF contributing editor Sam Kashner. “It is a sexual violation. It’s disgusting. The law needs to be changed, and we need to change.”
As for the people who looked at the pictures: Lawrence is not ashamed, but they should be. “Anybody who looked at those pictures, you’re perpetuating a sexual offense,” she said. “You should cower with shame.”
The result is more powerful than every “is she or isn’t she?” feminist celebrity interview combined.
