Joanna Lumley: “Don't go to his hotel room if you're not sure.”

Joanna Lumley has said that while she’s ‘full of sympathy for the horrors that have gone on’ in terms of sexual abuse in the entertainment business, women should also know what they’re getting into.

She added that they need to ‘speak up’ and take responsibility for their own actions.

In an interview with Hello! Magazine, she said: “If you don’t know whether to take your pants off, don’t suddenly scream later: ‘I really didn’t want to do it’.

“And don’t go to his hotel room if you’re not sure, because it won’t end well.

“I’m full of sympathy for the horrors that have gone on, but at the same time, women need to know what they are or aren’t going to do.

“It’s your ship, you’re the captain, so if somebody does something you don’t like, speak up. Don’t feel you ought to do it because you need a job.”

Lumley is set to take over hosting the BAFTAs this year, after Stephen Fry stood down from the role after 12 years.

She added that while she’ll be wearing black in solidarity of the #MeToo movement, she won’t be using the event to make a personal stance.

“I won’t be making a big statement, but maybe somebody who’s a recipient, or who’s giving [out an award] maybe they will and that’s lovely,” she said.

“People can say what they like. People can do a highland fling if they want to.”

However, she added to Good Morning Britain that she hoped that political statements would not bog down the event.

She told host Richard Arnold: “I’d so love it if not everybody used it as a platform for something else, because there are other times for those things.

“This is the time to say, ‘Showbiz! Aren’t we so lucky to be in it?’

“I just want to celebrate the excellence of film, the sensational performances we’ve got this year.

“I just want people at home to love it, people who are coming up to get stuff to not be afraid, people are presenters to feel confident – it’ll be lovely.”

The BAFTAs take place this Sunday night at the Royal Albert Hall.

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