80s star says she was taken ‘advantage of’ by ‘predators’ in Hollywood-Asyia Iftikhar-Entertainment – Metro

Molly Ringwald, who rose to stardom in the 80s, encountered ‘predators’ along the way (Picture: Universal/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock)

Molly Ringwald, star of hit 1980s classic The Breakfast Club, opened up about her ‘harrowing’ Hollywood experience as a young woman.

The 56-year-old actor – who started in the industry in her early teens and was only 17 when Breakfast Club was released – got candid about encountering ‘predators’ during her career in a new interview.

The screenstar also featured in 1984 film Sixteen Candles, 1986 movie Pretty in Pink and in recent years has appeared in the Kissing Booth trilogy and Riverdale as Mary Andrews.

But when fame first came knocking at Molly’s door in the 80s, she said she ‘never really felt like [she was] part of a community’ because she was ‘so young’ and a ‘shy, introverted person’.

‘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,’ she said on the WTF with Marc Maron podcast

‘You’re lucky you didn’t get taken advantage of or got into some sort of horrible situation,’ Marc, 60, responded to Molly who quickly corrected his assumption.

Molly is now 56 with a daughter of her own entering showbiz (Picture: Getty)

‘Oh, I was taken advantage of,’ she replied, laughing: ‘You can’t be a young actress in Hollywood and not have predators around.

‘I wasn’t raped by Harvey Weinstein so I’m grateful for that,’ she added. Molly starred in Weinstein film Strike It Rich when she was 20 and opened up about her experience in Hollywood in the New Yorker in 2017.

On the podcast, Molly explained that she was ‘definitely in questionable situations’.

She continued: ‘But I do have an incredible survival instinct and a pretty big superego and kind of managed to figure out a way to protect myself. But it can be harrowing.

Molly and her daughter Mathilda (Picture: Erik Pendzich/REX/Shutterstock)

‘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.’

Her daughter Mathilda Ereni Gianopoulos, who she shares with husband Panio Gianopoulos, recently made her acting debut as Georgia in Amazon Prime hit The Idea of You.

Molly has previously spoken about an uncomfortable scene in her film Sixteen Candles, in which she plays teen Samantha Baker.

Molly has previously spoken about Hollywood director John Hughes (Picture: Universal/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock)

In the scene, the male lead Jake Ryan (Michael Schoeffling) talks about possibly ‘violating’ his unconscious girlfriend Caroline (Haviland Morris).

Instead, Caroline is sent home with Ted (Anthony Michael) who she doesn’t remember having sex with. A scene that would not have been acceptable today.

‘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,’ Molly said in 2018.

She added that there were some parts in the films directed by John Hughes, including Sixteen Candles and Breakfast Club, that ‘bothered’ her.

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