Susan Sarandon Reveals "Disgusting" Casting Couch Encounter

Outspoken actress admits she had her own run-in with an audition predator early in her Hollywood career

By Josh Grossberg Oct 15, 2012 4:35 PMTags
Susan SarandonGary Gershoff/Getty Images

Like a lot of actresses, Susan Sarandon unfortunately has her own casting-couch hell to tell.

In the November issue of Elle, per Radar, the Oscar winner opens up about a "disgusting" sexual exploitation scheme she was forced to endure during an audition for an unidentified film when she was starting out in in show business.

"It was not successful—for either of us," the 66-year-old Sarandon confessed to the magazine. "I just went into a room, and a guy practically threw me on the desk. It was my early days in New York, and it was really disgusting. It wasn't like I gave it a second thought. It was so badly done."

The thesp, of course, would go on to steam up the screen in such box0office hits as The Witches of Eastwick, Bull Durham and Thelma & Louise as well as win an Academy Award in 1995 for Dead Man Walking.

In the sit-down, Sarandon also responded to critics who have expressed reservations about her relationship with boyfriend and ping-pong club owner Jonathan Bricklin, 30 years her junior.

"People make him out to be much younger than he is—and me older," she told Elle, noting that Bricklin is 35, not 33 as some outlets have erroneously reported.

Sarandon can next be seen on the big screen later this month in the epic fantasy, Cloud Atlas, directed by the Wachowski siblings and Tom Tykwer.