Natalie Portman and Emma Stone among 300 Hollywood women to launch sexual assault initiative Time’s Up

Other stars including Eva Longoria and Jennifer Aniston have lent their voices to the campaign 
Hitting back: Natalie Portman helps launch Time's Up
Pascal Le Segretain/Getty
Jennifer Ruby2 January 2018
The Weekender

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Stars including Natalie Portman, Emma Stone and Jennifer Aniston have come together to launch a new initiative to help combat sexual harassment and inequality.

The A-list actresses are among 300 female Hollywood actors, directors, writers and film industry executives to launch the new Time’s Up campaign, which includes a $13million legal defence fund.

Announced in a full-page open letter in the New York Time and La Opinion on New Year’s Day, the initiative aims to unify all women working in the entertainment industry.

“The struggle for women to break in, to rise up the ranks and to simply be heard and acknowledged in male-dominated workplaces must end; time’s up on this impenetrable monopoly,” the letter reads.

Time's Up: Jennifer Aniston joins new campaign
Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images for Giffoni Film Festival

Other actresses to lend their name to the campaign include Eva Longoria, Cate Blanchett and Reese Witherspoon.

“This is a moment of solidarity, not a fashion moment,” said Longoria. “This time the industry can’t expect us to go up and twirl around. That’s not what this moment is about.”

The legal defence fund, which will help those who can’t afford to meet their legal costs in sexual harassment court cases, has been funded entirely by donations.

Stars including Meryl Streep, Taylor Swift, Viola Davis and JJ Abrams have all contributed to the fund.

The initiative will also push to close the gender pay gap and fight for gender parity across all companies in the entertainment industry.

Famously private Portman launched her own personal Instagram page on Sunday to help promote Time’s Up.

The new campaign has been launched just a few months after Hollywood was hit by a series of sexual abuse allegations against high-profile male executives including Harvey Weinstein.

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