Sexual harassment comments taken out of context: Angela Lansbury

Los Angeles, Nov 30 (IANS) Actress Angela Lansbury, who was slammed for her comment that "women must accept some blame for sexual harassment", says her remarks were taken out of context.

"There is no excuse whatsoever for men to harass women in an abusive sexual manner. And, I am devastated that anyone should deem me capable of thinking otherwise. Those who have known the quality of my work and the many public statements I have made over the course of my life, must know, that I am a strong supporter of Women's Rights," said Lansbury, reports variety.com.

"Lastly, I would like to add that I am troubled by how quickly and brutishly some have taken my comments out of context and attempted to blame my generation, my age, or my mindset, without having read the entirety of what I said," she added.

On Tuesday, Lansbury, 92, told Radio Times magazine in an interview that " women must sometimes take blame, women. I really do think that. Although it's awful to say, we can't make ourselves look as attractive as possible without being knocked down and raped."

However, the actress, who will soon be seen in "Mary Poppins Returns" as the balloon lady, did not deny having made the comments.

Her comments were published on Tuesday amid a wave of sexual harassment allegations in Hollywood exposing details of decades of alleged misconduct by producer Harvey Weinstein, followed by accusations on celebrities like Louis C.K., Russell Simmons, Brett Ratner, and Matt Lauer.