This weekend the #MeToo hashtag popped up on social media, and droves of women bravely came forward with tales of abuse, sexual harassment and assault.
On Sunday Björk entered the fray, posting on Facebook that she too had been sexually harassed by a Danish director. Though she did not name him, her story led many to assume she was calling out Lars Von Trier, who directed her in 2000’s Dancer in the Dark.
Noting that she comes “from a country that is one of the worlds place closest to equality between the sexes and at the time i came from position of strength in the music world with hard earned independence , it was extremely clear to me when i walked into the actresses profession that my humiliation and role as a lesser sexually harassed being was the norm and set in stone with the director and a staff of dozens who enabled it and encouraged it.”
She went on to state that “when i turned the director down repeatedly he sulked and punished me and created for his team an impressive net of illusion where i was framed as the difficult one.”
Lars Von Trier denied treating her badly, telling Danish paper Jylannds Posten that while he and Björk had conflicts during the filming of Dancer in the Dark — which were widely reported at the time — he did not act inappropriately.
On Sunday Björk took to Facebook in a follow-up post, where she wrote “in the spirit of #metoo i would like to lend women around the world a hand with a more detailed description of my experience with a danish director.” In the post she recounted six incidents that transpired with the Danish director, including “after each take the director ran up to me and wrapped his arms around me for a long time in front of all crew or alone and stroked me sometimes for minutes against my wishes.”
As more brave women step forward, we can only imagine how many more horror stories will come to light in the coming days.