Jana Kramer on Sexual Harassment: Me Too, and ‘It’s Hard to Talk About’
Jana Kramer is the latest in a growing string of women who are declaring, "Me too."
The country singer and former One Tree Hill actress tells Yahoo that, like many women who have shared their stories of sexual harassment in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal, she too has had to deal with unwelcome/inappropriate advances in her career.
In fact, she relates that she almost left Los Angeles to go back to her native Michigan after an incident with a former manager when she was starting out.
“I had a man helping me in the very beginning when I was 19, and he was like, ‘OK, I’ve done this for you. What are you going to do for me?’” she recalls. “And I remember in that moment being like, ‘Oh, my God! I am going to have to sleep with this man in order to fulfill my dreams.’"
"I ended up just bawling, crying, and having a panic attack, and he left."
Kramer called her mother, who encouraged her to move on and not give up. The singer found a new manager, but the incident stayed with her. She explains that she understands why so many of Weinstein's victims, as well as other victims, have been reluctant to share their stories.
"You kind of just feel gross about it, and ashamed about it, and you are like, ‘Was it me? Did I do something?’" she says. "It's just one of those things that's hard to talk about."
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