Jennifer Lawrence breaks silence over nude photo leak: ‘It is a sex crime’

Jennifer Lawrence has broken her silence over the recent nude photo hacking scandal, branding it a “sex crime”.

The Hunger Games star was among the one of the most prominent celebrities targeted when an unknown hacker distributed explicit private photographs online back in August, and has spoken extensively about how the incident has affected her in the new issue of Vanity Fair.

“I was just so afraid. I didn’t know how this would affect my career,” she said.

“Just because I’m a public figure, just because I’m an actress, does not mean that I asked for this. It does not mean that it comes with the territory. It’s my body, and it should be my choice, and the fact that it is not my choice is absolutely disgusting. I can’t believe that we even live in that kind of world.”

The 24-year-old explained that she had attempted to write a statement at the time, but admitted that “every single time I tried to write [it] made me cry or get angry”.

She continued: “I started to write an apology, but I don’t have anything to say I’m sorry for. I was in a loving, healthy, great relationship for four years. It was long distance, and either your boyfriend is going to look at porn or he’s going to look at you.

“It is not a scandal. It is a sex crime. It is a sexual violation. It’s disgusting. The law needs to be changed, and we need to change. That’s why these websites are responsible. Just the fact that somebody can be sexually exploited and violated, and the first thought that crosses somebody’s mind is to make a profit from it.”

The Oscar-winner went on to add that anyone who had viewed the images should “cower with shame”.

“Anybody who looked at those pictures, you’re perpetuating a sexual offense,” she said. “Even people who I know and love say, ‘Oh, yeah, I looked at the pictures’. I don’t want to get mad, but at the same time I’m thinking, I didn’t tell you that you could look at my naked body.”

The X-Men star concluded that “time does heal”, telling the magazine she is not “crying about it anymore”, and is working on finding her “own peace” so that her happiness does not rest on those behind the leak being punished.

Lawrence will next appear in The Hunger Games: Mockinjay – Part 1, which is released in the UK on November 21.

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