Sienna Miller says being hunted by paparazzi was like living in a video game: ‘It was assault’
Sienna Miller has shared her opinion on the recent Britney Spears documentary, saying she recognises the faces of individual paparazzo who once hounded and harassed her, too.
Framing Britney Spears explores the pop singer’s rise to fame, her problematic treatment by the media, the legal conservatorship overseen by her father, and the growing #FreeBritney movement.
Reacting to the programme, American Woman star Miller told The Guardian: “Everyone in the culture was complicit in what was being done to girls in that moment.
“I was definitely a victim of that, and I couldn’t handle it. I don’t know how anyone could. It was assault. And I think the reaction from a lot of women under that kind of scrutiny at the time was to just lose it a little bit.”
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She added: “You’re in a perpetual state of anxiety. You’re living this video-game existence, being hunted relentlessly. Watching the documentary, I could really relate to those moments where she cracks because it’s unmanageable. It is aggressive and terrifying and you lose control. That’s their intention.”
Miller said she was determined not to adapt her own behaviour at the time. “I could have not gone out,” she said. “Or not worn what I wanted. I could have changed my life in some way. I just took them all to court instead.”
Last year, Miller said that six weeks of her life are a blank, due to the shock caused by the media frenzy over her former fiancé Jude Law’s affair.
In 2005, it was revealed that Law had cheated on Miller with their children’s nanny. He issued a public apology to her at the time.
In the ensuing months, Miller, who was making her stage debut in a West End production of Shakespeare’s As You Like It opposite Dominic West, was relentlessly hounded by paparazzi.
“That was one of the most challenging moments I hope I’ll ever have to experience,” the Golden Globe-nominated actor said.
