Florence Pugh Called Out The “Loudly Abusive” Response To Her Sheer Dress

In case you somehow missed your favorite stars swirling around in bold, Barbie-pink dresses, July 8 marked Valentino’s latest couture show — and it was a moment. Anne Hathaway, Ariana DeBose, Ashley Park, and Florence Pugh were just a few of the familiar faces who turned out for the event, held at Rome’s Spanish Steps. Each of the actors sported pink Valentino gowns and accompanying platform heels — but it was Pugh’s outfit, in particular, that received a flurry of sexist comments from internet trolls, as the Don’t Worry Darling star acknowledged (and promptly called out) in a July 10 Instagram post.

While Pugh said she wasn’t “nervous” about wearing the sheer gown, it was “interesting” to see men “totally destroy a woman’s body, publicly, proudly, for everyone to see” in their response to the dress — and her body in it. “You even do it with your job titles and work emails in your bio..?”

“What’s worrying,” the Oscar nominee added, “is just how vulgar some of you men can be.” Pugh went on to discuss her personal history with body image. “I’m happy with all of the ‘flaws’ that I couldn’t bear to look at when I was 14,” she wrote. “So many of you wanted to aggressively let me know how disappointed you were by my ‘tiny tits’, or how I should be embarrassed by being so ‘flat chested’. I’ve lived in my body for a long time. I’m fully aware of my breast size and am not scared of it.”

Pugh said growing up “in a household with very strong, powerful, curvy women,” helped her weather Hollywood’s beauty standards. “It has always been my mission in this industry to say ‘f*ck it and f*ck that’ whenever anyone expects my body to morph into an opinion of what’s hot or sexually attractive,” she wrote. “I wore that dress because I know. If being loudly abusive towards women publicly in 2022 is so easy for you, then the answer is that it is you who doesn’t know.”

Fans and fellow celebrities flocked to Pugh’s comments to support her move to #freethenipple. “RESPECT. Period,” wrote Pugh’s fellow pink-clad star, DeBose. Bridgerton’s Nicola Coughlan commented, “Adore you.” Another Bridgerton alum, Regé-Jean Page, took to his Instagram story to amplify Pugh’s message and address her male critics — and their friends.

“Take a look at yourself fellas. Then take a look at your mates and step up when it’s time to step up,” he wrote. “When the boys are out of line, have a word. The weird thing about misogyny is men actually listen to other men, so do your bit, cos the next few years in particular are gonna be a really good time to listen, and take some responsibility, for everyone’s sake.”

This isn’t the first time Pugh has called out body shaming on her platform. In 2019, she criticized the Evening Standard’s review of Fighting with My Family, which described Pugh as having “chunky thighs.”

Pugh also made body image a priority when signing on to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Yelena Belova in Black Widow. “When I got the job, I wanted to know what the regime was,” she told Elle in 2020. “I wanted to know whether it was them or me calling the shots. That was a big deal for me. I didn’t want to be part of something where I was constantly checked on. And people making sure I was in the ‘right’ shape. That’s not me at all.”