The entertainment industry still has a lot of problems to address in a post #MeToo environment. The organization formed to address some of those problems, Time’s Up, has collapsed after being caught advising sexual predators; and many of those predators are apparently still thriving in positions of power, at least according to Stranger Things Chrissy Cunningham, Grace Van Dien.
The actor, who is the daughter of Starship Troopers star Casper Van Dien and also starred in Netflix’s Greenhouse Academy, told fans during a Twitch livestream that she has voluntarily chosen to press pause on her career for that reason (per Variety). “Here’s the thing, I have seen that some people are upset with me for turning down acting projects and deciding to stream more, but the fact of the matter is the last few projects I’ve worked on I didn’t have the best experiences with some of the people I had to work for,” she explained.
“One of the last movies I did, one of the producers asked me to… like, he hired a girl that he was sleeping with and then he had her ask me to have a threesome with them,” Van Dien went on. “So… that’s my boss. And then I didn’t and I cried and I was so upset. But when people are like, ‘How is streaming better for your mental health?’ That’s how. I get to stay inside my house and play video games and I don’t have my boss asking me to have sex with them.”
If there’s any silver lining to be found in the situation, it’s that Van Dien has a platform of her own where she can share her experiences. There’s no telling how many artists have been driven from the industry by sexual harassment without ever being able to tell their stories. But Van Dien isn’t quitting on Hollywood for good. “I’m happy here, and I’m developing my own projects,” she said. “I’m hoping that someone decides to fund them because then I can be in control of my own set, and I’m not gonna ask my actors to sleep with me.”