'Emmerdale' star Claire King reveals she walked out of casting sessions with inappropriate directors
Claire King has revealed she walked out of casting sessions early in her career due to inappropriate behaviour by directors.
The 59-year-old actor — best known for portraying Kim Tate in Emmerdale — told The Sun on Sunday she was invited to hotel rooms for casting, but recognised something wasn't right.
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She said: "I’ve been to several castings where I’ve thought: ‘This isn’t right, why am I in a hotel room? Why aren’t I in an office or a studio?’
“It’s that big blackmail threat: ‘You won’t get the job unless you...’ I don’t think any job is worth that because I’ve got principles.
"But there’s always someone behind you who will, someone to fill your boots."
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King said she'd never let it get as far as her being propositioned, but admitted she had friends who have ended up in "dodgy situations".
The star added that this sort of behaviour still happens today, despite the impact of the Me Too movement on the entertainment industry all over the world.
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However, King said she has some problems with the discussion around sexism in the industry, saying she learned to "brush off" that behaviour when she was growing up in the 1970s.
"We’re now at the point where you can’t even have a bit of banter without worrying someone will be offended," King said.
She added: "We’ve moved on a lot in the past couple of years and things are improving. Racism, homophobia, sexism are all being called out.
“We still have further to go but sometimes I think we’ve been pushing things so far we forget what’s real and what isn’t.”
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King arrived in the Yorkshire Dales as the villainous Kim Tate in 1989 and left the show in 1999, but returned in 2018.
During her hiatus from Emmerdale, King took on a regular role in Bad Girls and also appeared on ITV's other flagship soap Coronation Street.
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