“Mission Impossible” actress Rebecca Ferguson said Tuesday she “would cry walking off set” as a result of being bullied by a famous star on the set of an unnamed movie.
Ferguson appeared on an episode of the “Reign with Josh Smith” podcast and recalled the difficulties she faced during this alleged experience with the bully.
“This person would literally look at me in front of the whole crew and say, ‘You call yourself an actor? This is what I have to work with?’” she said. “I stood there just breaking.”
Ferguson described the strenuous relationship she had to endure on-set but kept both the identity of the person and name of the movie private. She made it clear the person in question was a huge star.
“I did a film with an absolute idiot of a co-star,” she said. “I remember there was a moment when this human being was being so insecure and angry because this person couldn’t get the scenes out.”
She said she she felt uncomfortable and vulnerable and struggled with how to handle the situation.
Rebecca Ferguson attends the “Dune” Premiere during the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival at Cinesphere on September 11, 2021 in Toronto, Ontario. Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images
“And I think I was so vulnerable and uncomfortable that I got screamed at,” she told Smith. “I would cry walking off set.”
The “Dune: Part Two” actress said the bullying increased as time went on and became more challenging for her to bear.
“Because this person was No. 1 on the call sheet, there was no safety net for me,” she said. “No one had my back.”
Rebecca Ferguson poses for a photocall during the preview screening event for the film “Dune: Part Two” at the Le Grand Rex Paris cinema in Paris on February 12, 2024. (Photo by Geoffroy VAN DER HASSELT via Getty Images)
Ferguson said things got so bad for her that she finally had to stand up for herself. She noted this was the first time she had to advocate for herself against a fellow actor on-set.
“You get off my set … You can f off. I’m gonna work towards a tennis ball,” she told her bully. “I never want to see you again.”
Rebecca Ferguson arrives for the UK film premiere of “Florence Foster Jenkins” at Odeon Leicester Square on April 12, 2016 in London, England. Photo by Ian Gavan/Getty Images
The producers weren’t as supportive of her decision to speak out as she had hoped they would be.
“I remember the producers came up and said, ‘You can’t do this to No. 1. We have to let this person be on set,’” she said.
“And I said, ‘The person can turn around, and I can act to the back of the head.’ And I did. I was so scared. I feel it now when I’m saying it,” she noted.
Rebecca Ferguson attends the Christian Dior Haute Couture Spring Summer 2023 show as part of Paris Fashion Week on January 23, 2023 in Paris, France. Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images for Christian Dior
Ferguson eventually addressed the matter with the director of the movie, and the director eventually conceded.
“You’re right. I am not taking care of everyone else. I’m trying to fluff this person because it’s so unstable,” the director told her at the time. (RELATED: ‘Horrible’: Kate Winslet Says There Was A Downside To ‘Titanic’ Success)
“It was great from that moment, but it took so long for me to get to that,” she said.