Molly Ringwald Recalls Being ‘Taken Advantage Of’ as a Young Actress

During a recent appearance on the “WTF With Marc Maron” podcast, Molly Ringwald reflected on growing up in Hollywood as a young woman and how it’s nearly impossible to do so without being taken advantage of in some way.

“I never really felt like I was part of a community when I was in Hollywood, just because I was so young, really. I wasn’t going out to clubs. I feel like I’m more social now than I was then. I was just too young,” she said.

“Well, you’re lucky you didn’t get taken advantage of or got into some sort of horrible situation,” Maron said.

“Oh, I was taken advantage of,” she replied. “You can’t be a young actress in Hollywood and not have predators around.” She said she was “definitely in questionable situations” but relied on her “incredible survival instinct and a pretty big superego” to protect herself. That’s why she’s trying to convince her daughter to avoid acting.

“It can be harrowing. And I have a 20-year-old daughter now who is going into the same profession, even though I did everything I could to convince her to do something else. And it’s hard.”

She recently talked about watching The Breakfast Club with her daughter, which she feels “hasn’t aged well.” In 2018, she told NPR that she feels conflicted about the movies that made her famous.

“I feel very differently about the movies now and it’s a difficult position for me to be in, because there’s a lot that I like about them. And of course I don’t want to appear ungrateful to John Hughes, but I do oppose a lot of what is in those movies.”