“It’s very easy to name names & destroy careers”

The elephant in the room at the AACTA Awards was issues surrounding harassment.

While it was acknowledged in the final acceptance speech of the night, there were plenty of journos asking some reticent celebrities for their thoughts, on the red carpet.

One who was happy to go on the record was Please Like Me‘s Debra Lawrance.

“It’s about looking after the girls this has happened to, and nurturing them. But also making sure that due process takes place. It’s very easy to name names, and destroy careers without too much evidence,” she told TV Tonight.

“It’s such a big issue that we have to be very careful about how we progress with it.

“The Harvey Weinstein stuff was signed off, basically, before it was (published).”

Lawrance said she knew peers who had all faced harassment, albeit not at an extreme level.

“Women in my age group got together, had a glass of wine and said ‘this happened to me’ and we were sexually harassed but none of us were sexually assaulted,” she continued.

“It needs to come out now but I think it has to be slow and steady and not sensationalised, so it can’t be easily dismissed.”

Lawrance, who most recently won Hell’s Kitchen Australia, said she wasn’t sure about tackling Reality TV again anytime soon.

“I loved it but I don’t know if I would do it again. The big drawcard was the money for charity, and the chance to work with Marco Pierre White. I met some amazing people, worked my butt off and lost 5 kilos! That’s a bonus.”