Sexism almost chased the beloved Sandra Bullock out of Hollywood.
In a recent interview with USA Today the actress revealed that she had a “wake-up moment” during her career when she realized she was being discriminated against because she’s a woman.
“I was like, ‘What is this feeling? Why do I feel so (expletive)?’” the “Ocean’s 8” star said. “‘Oh, my God, I’m being treated this way because I have a vagina.’”
Bullock, 53, said she was raised to believe that a woman could do anything a man could. So when she encountered sexism in the workplace, she was very surprised.
“My mother raised me like, ‘You don’t need to get married, you forge your own path. You make your own money, and be your own person,’” she said. “And I literally went out into the world thinking there was no disparity, that everyone was equal, and I can do whatever a man can do.”
She added that it was definitely “a hard pill to swallow” when she realized that the industry was not immune to sexism.
“It was hard for me, because I walked with blinders on through life and got to where I (felt) like I was less than because I was a woman. And that was a hard pill to swallow,” Bullock said. “I had a lot of sadness from that. I was like, ‘Wow, maybe I need to step out of here. Maybe I need to do something else for a living.’ And that was in the middle of when I was getting work ― I didn’t want to be a part of that world where there was that experience.”