Molly Ringwald: ‘You Can’t Be a Young Actress in Hollywood and Not Have Predators Around’

Molly Ringwald said “you can’t be a young actress in Hollywood and not have predators around,” making it clear she was “taken advantage of” as a young star in the 80s.

Speaking on the “WTF with Marc Maron podcast,” the 56-year-old actress said as a young star in Hollywood, it can be “harrowing” and that she ended up in “situations,” despite her “shy, introverted” nature and preference to not go out.

“I never really felt like I was part of a community when I was in Hollywood, just because I was so young, really,” Ringwald said. “I wasn’t into going out to clubs. I feel like I’m more social now than I was then. I was just too young.”

“I was taken advantage of,” she added, laughing. “You can’t be a young actress in Hollywood and not have predators around.”

Ringwald said while she was “definitely in questionable situations,” she does have “an incredible survival instinct and a pretty big superego,” so she “managed to figure out a way to protect myself.”

“But, yeah, it can be harrowing,” the actress continued. “And I have a 20-year-old daughter now who is going into the same profession, even though I did everything I could to convince her to do something else. And it’s hard.”

Ringwald said unlike her parents who “didn’t know anything about show business,” she does

The Hollywood star recently talked about how times have changed in Hollywood and admitted being critical of the coming-of-age films she was in by John Hughes, like “The Breakfast Club” and “Sixteen Candles.”

“Back then, I was only vaguely aware of how inappropriate much of John’s writing was, given my limited experience and what was considered normal at the time,” Ringwald said in the New Yorker.

“I think, as everyone says and I do believe is true, that times were different and what was acceptable then is definitely not acceptable now and nor should it have been then, but that’s sort of the way that it was,” the actress also told NPR. “I feel very differently about the movies now and it’s a difficult position for me to be in because there’s a lot that I like about them. Of course I don’t want to appear ungrateful to John Hughes, but I do oppose a lot of what is in those movies.”