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Emily Atack has insisted “yes you can” take part in steamy Rivals sex scenes whilst also campaigning against sexual violence, as she hit back at critics who have accused her of hypocrisy.
Atack plays Sarah Stratton in the Disney+ adaptation of Jilly Cooper’s novel, with the show famed for its many scenes of nudity and sex.
But Atack, who recently made a documentary about the sexual violence and harassment that she and other women have been subjected to, said she didn’t agree that she needed to “pick a lane”, adding of filming Rivals “I’m exactly where I need to be”.
What, how, and why?
Emily Atack has been grabbing headlines for her role in Rivals recently, but told Loose Women that she had faced some criticism over balancing the Jilly Cooper adaptation’s many sex scenes with her campaigning work against sexual violence.
The actor and comedian, who stars as Sarah Stratton in the Disney+ series, released documentary Asking For It? in 2023 about the sexual harassment she has faced and has continued her campaigning work on the issue.
Asked by Loose Women how she felt about the nudity and sex in Rivals, she said: “I’m actually fine with it. It’s so funny because people go, well hang on, you need to pick a lane. You can’t be somebody that plays these types of roles but also campaigns about sexual violence against women.
Read more: Rivals
“People think you can’t do both and I’m really trying to hammer this message home that yes, you can. I’m exactly where I need to be – at work in a professional environment. Obviously in the past, it wasn’t always that way, but we have intimacy co-ordinators, it’s heavily choreographed, we’re all having a nice time because we’re being professionals, safe, and I’m doing my job.
“I’m not going to change what I’m doing, it’s the behaviour of other people that needs to change.”
She added of the backlash from some quarters to her documentary: “As women we’re so used to thinking about our behaviour, what we wear, we can’t go for a jog after dark, we have to take a different route home. All we’re saying is men now have to look inward at their own behaviours that they’ve been allowed to get away with for years, and some men – not all men – they can’t stand the fact that they have to look inward and change their behaviour. We’ve had to do it forever.”
Talking about how she would educate her own newborn son on harassment as he got older, she said: “I’m not going to be a perfect parent, there’s no such thing, but this is my chance, there are so many more reasons why I’m going to continue campaigning. I want my son to grow up in a world where women are treated better.”
What else did Emily Atack say?
Atack also spoke about what a great time she’d had making Rivals, saying: “We all need this at the moment, there are so many horrible things happening in the world and it’s escapism.”
She added: “I think I was born in the wrong era, the 80s is a bit of me. They all just drunk champagne in the daytime, it was great, normalise it.
“It was the best job I’ve ever done in my life. The cast were amazing, people say don’t meet your heroes – I met every single one of them and they’re all my friends now and they are just amazing.”
Atack, who stars alongside David Tennant, Alex Hassell, Aidan Turner and Danny Dyer in the show, said: “The other morning I was going off to promote Rivals and I left (my baby son) and my partner in bed and I looked and thought, life doesn’t get better than this, I have to take this moment in.”
Loose Women airs on ITV1 at 12.30pm on weekdays.