Emma Thompson Slams Sex Scene Double Standards: ‘Acceptable for George Clooney to Have Someone 40 Years Younger’

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Emma Thompson is speaking out about the double standards in movie sex scenes when it comes to age disparities between men and women.

The actress is set to star in the new film Good Luck To You, Leo Grande, in which her character hires a younger man to sleep with her.

“It’s very interesting with this woman I’m about to play,” said the 61-year-old actress on the CultureBlast podcast, pointing out that her character tells a younger man she doesn’t want to sleep with someone her own age.

“Now I’ve never heard a woman say that on screen,” Thompson added. “With men, it’s completely acceptable.”

She continued, “It’s completely acceptable for George Clooney – who is delightful – to have someone who is 40 years younger than him or 30 years younger than him. If I have someone playing opposite me in a romantic way, they have to exhume someone, because I’m 61 now. Do you see what I mean? It’s completely and utterly unbalanced.”

Thompson went on to say it will be “very interesting” to find out whether “people aren’t averse to seeing [a woman] who’s 61 largely naked with a very much younger person.” She added, “We’ve got to keep being brave about that.”

Listen to Thompson’s interview below. The discussion about sex scenes begins at the 33:37 mark.