What is Ashley Judd doing now? Actress’s career after being backlisted from Hollywood explored

Ashley Judd, who, apart from her acting projects, now also focuses on her role as Goodwill Ambassador for UNFPA, recently opened up about her life growing up in New docuseries, " The Judd Family: Truth Be Told."

Despite attaining considerable amount of fame, the "A Time to Kill" actress stopped landing big roles like she once did in the 90s, after a certain incident that according to Judd, led her to being blacklisted from Hollywood.

More about Ashley Judd's career explored, as actress had once claimed to be blacklisted from the industry

Ashley Judd, who is the daughter of Grammy-nominated country singer Naomi Judd, started her career in 1991 when she appeared in two episodes of "Star Trek: The Next Generation." She went on to star in a string of big projects until the late 1990s.

In 1997, Ashley Judd was invited to discuss a possible collaboration with Harvey Weinstein at the Peninsula Beverly Hills Hotel. Upon arriving, she was asked to come up to his room where, according to the "Natural Born Killers" actress, Harvey Weinstein made inappropriate comments, and later suggested she give him a massage. In an interview with ABC News, Judd recalled that after arriving there, she realized the troubling situation and knew she had to leave. She said:

"Maybe he heard them [her responses] as maybe, maybe he heard them as yeses. Maybe they turned him on. He asked me to pick out the suit for the day. I have it completely frozen in my mind: the floor plan the door behind me and remember where the closet was."

She further explained how she defused the situation by implying that whatever he wanted would only happen then if she won an Oscar, before quickly leaving the room. She said:

"He just kept coming at me with all this other stuff. Finally, I just said ‘When I win an Oscar in one of your movies, OK?’ 'He said ‘When you get nominated’. I said ‘No, when I win an Oscar’. And then I just fled."

According to Ashley Judd, this incident led to her being blacklisted from Hollywood on the advice of the once powerful producer. In an interview with ABC News, the "Kiss the Girls" actress shared how she knew that her career had suffered as a result of turning down Weinstein. She said:

"I lost career opportunity. I lost money. I lost status and prestige and power in my career as a direct result of having been sexually harassed and rebuffing the sexual harassment. My career opportunities, after having been defamed by Harvey Weinstein, were significantly diminished. My career was damaged because I rebuffed Mr. Weinstein's sexual advances. I know it for a fact."

Her claim was confirmed by director Peter Jackson, who in a 2017 interview, validated the earlier claims made by Ashley Judd and Mira Sorvino, both of whom claimed to have been completely"iced out" of the industry after being rejected by Weinstein.

In his interview with Stuff, Jackson said that Miramax (the company founded by Harvey Weistein and his brother, Bob Weistein) discouraged him from casting Judd and Sorvino when he was selecting actors for his then upcoming, "The Lord of the Rings," movie, claiming that both of them were difficult to work with. He said:

“I recall Miramax telling us they were a nightmare to work with and we should avoid them at all costs. At the time, we had no reason to question what these guys were telling us. But in hindsight, I realize that this was very likely the Miramax smear campaign in full swing. I now suspect we were fed false information about both of these talented women.”

At that time, Miramax held the distribution rights to the movie, but Harvey Weinstein and his lawyers later denied any such involvement. In a statement obtained by The Guardian, a representative for Weistein said:

"Mr Weinstein has nothing but the utmost respect for Peter Jackson. However, as Mr Jackson will probably remember, because Disney would not finance the Lord of the Rings, Miramax lost the project and all casting was done by New Line."

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Since the indident over thirty years ago, Ashley Judd has appeared in movies like "Someone Like You," "Lazareth," "Bug," "Olympus Has Fallen," "Insurgent," along with TV shows like, "Missing," and "Berlin Station" among others, according to her IMDB profile.

Ashley Judd, who in her new docuseries talked about her father and other unknown details about her life, became the first person in 2017 to publicly speak out about the allegations against Harvey Weinstein. She, in turn, paved the way for over eighty women to come forward with their stories, which helped build the case that ultimately led to his prosecution.

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