Michael Bay and Megan Fox Are on Good Terms — She Says She Was ‘Never Assaulted or Preyed Upon’
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Megan Fox, who made her acting debut in the 2001 romantic comedy Holiday in the Sun, appeared as an uncredited extra in the 2003 action film Bad Boys II, directed by Michael Bay.
Bay reportedly had Fox dance "underneath a waterfall, getting soaking wet," while she wore a "stars-and-stripes bikini," "a red cowboy hat," and 6-inch heels.
Since the actress was only 15 at the time and seeking opportunities, she did the uncredited part in the film starring Martin Lawrence and Will Smith.
A few years later, she again worked with him in Transformers and its sequel Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.
Her role as Mikaela Banes in the blockbuster action films made her known globally.
The Encounter Becoming an Issue
In June 2020, a few clips — that narrated the story mentioned above — went viral on the internet.
One such clip featured Fox's 2009 appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, where she described her background role in Bay's 2003 film Bad Boys II and how Bay filmed her intimate scene.
However, the particular story made some fans unhappy, as they claimed it was unfair that the director made a teenager do such intimate scenes.
"Reminder that Megan Fox confessed on the Jimmy Kimmel show that Michael Bay sexualized her in one of his movies when she was just 15, and Jimmy Kimmel responded with 'lol yeah we all have those fantasies,'" someone wrote on Twitter.
A picture of Megan Fox and Michael Bay together at an event. (Photo: Twitter)
Another added, "Clip from 2009 where Megan Fox tells a story about Michael Bay sexualizing her as a 15 y/o. The crowd laughs, and Kimmel makes gross jokes. Teen girls being preyed on by older men has never been taken seriously and still isn't."
Some fans across social media even called for an apology from the filmmaker.
Megan Fox Defended Michael Bay
In the wake of the situation, Megan took to Instagram to release a statement where she defended the filmmaker.
She said that even though she had "endured some genuinely harrowing experiences in a ruthlessly misogynistic industry," in the past, she was "never assaulted or preyed upon in what I felt was a sexual manner" by the man in question.
"I know that a discussion has erupted online surrounding some of my experiences in Hollywood and the subsequent mishandling of this information by the media and society in general," she wrote.
"While I greatly appreciate the outpouring of support, I do feel I need to clarify some of the details, as they have been lost in the retelling of the events and cast a sinister shadow that doesn't really, in my opinion, belong. At least not where it's currently being projected."
Read the whole statement in her Instagram post below:
On the other hand, the filmmaker, who has produced and directed hits such as Armageddon, Pearl Harbor, and the Transformers film series, later responded to Fox's statement and shared a still from her Transformers audition tape.
He explained that he didn't make the actress wash a car or walk around the film set in a bikini, like the media reported over the years.
Fox and Bay's support for one another shows that they are on good terms, and more importantly, the actress never felt she was used by the filmmaker at the start of her career.