Ashley Judd blasted an unnamed airport employee in a Facebook Live video for what she calls "everyday sexism."
She also slammed the employee for calling her "sweetheart."
"This is the kind of thing to me that happens which I categorize as everyday sexism," she said while speaking directly to the camera. "And it is so easy to let it go and not to speak up, particularly when it is so easy for someone to push back and say, 'Oh, I was just being polite.' So I was coming through security and a guy said 'Hey sweetheart,' and I said, 'I'm not your sweetheart, I am your client.' So I was already setting a boundary."
That, she said, was just the beginning.
"When I was setting my things out, he said, 'Hey nice dress!' I didn't hear him say anything about the attire of any of the other folks in the entire line and I am in one of the most traveled airports in the world," she said. "I'm surrounded by lots and lots of other people dressed in lots of different kinds of dress. … And then guess what happened next? He touched me."
She fumed, "I didn't see him touch anybody else. And I turned around and I said, 'That was unnecessary.' By that time, you know, my skin was burning, my feet are burning — it's so hard to continue to set these boundaries when someone continues to push. And then for good measure, he just said one more time, 'Have a good day sweetheart!'"
The actress didn't say what airport she was at, but she's been in Europe for a film project.
The incident had a nice ending, she said in a follow up video, claiming she spoke to the manager of the employee and immediately got an apology.
"[The manager] had a very long conversation with the employee and he also assured me that their training … is to call people 'sir' and 'madam,' and that touching someone is totally inappropriate.
She added, "I also spoke with the manager about how our dream, our ideal, would be that we would record this little Facebook Live post together, but because he was in uniform, he wasn't able to do that. I think it's really important if we're discussing the problem, also to highlight a solution."