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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
Lifestyle
Jacob Stolworthy

Mrs Doubtfire actor says he lost Marvel role after refusing to strip for Oscar-winning director

Brotherly Love

Mrs Doubtfire child star Matthew Lawrence has claimed he was fired by his agency after refusing to strip for a director who promised him a Marvel role.

The actor made the allegation while discussing sexual harassment in the film industry during a podcast interview with his brothers Joey and Andrew Lawrence, who are also actors.

“There’s been many times in my life where I’ve been propositioned to get a huge role,” he said.

Lawrence then alleged that he was once asked to go to a hotel room where a famous director “showed up in his robe, asked me to take my clothes off, said he needed to take Polaroids of me and said if I did X, Y and Z, I would be the next Marvel character”.

When he refused and left the hotel room, Lawrence told Brotherly Love he “lost” the agency he was signed with at the time.

He did not reference either the agency or director by name, but said the latter was “a very prominent Oscar award-winner”. He also didn’t specify when the alleged incident took place.

Lawrence played Chris Hiller, the son of Robin Williams’s lead character in 1993 comedy Mrs Doubtfire.

He also played Jack Hunter in sitcom Boy Meets World and appeared in the TV series Brotherly Love, which ran from 1995 to 1997, alongside his brothers.

The actor, who called the #MeToo movement “a very good thing”, claimed that men are less supported in sharing their stories of sexual harassment within the industry.

Matthew Lawrence photographed in 2017 (Getty Images for Disney)

“Not a lot of guys in my opinion have come out and talked about this in the industry,” he said, adding: “Now granted, it’s probably about a third of what women go through.

“I think our society is less ready to hear that situation is going on with men than they are with women.”

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