Actor Matthew Lawrence, who’s best known for his roles as a child actor in stuff like Mrs. Doubtfire and Boy Meets World, recently talked about a time when he was asked to strip and submit to taking explicit photos in exchange for a Marvel role. He shared his story on an episode of the podcast Brotherly Love, which he does with his brothers Joey and Andrew Lawrence:
"There’s been many times in my life where I’ve been propositioned to get a huge role. I’ve lost my agency because I went to the hotel room — which I can’t believe they would send me to — of a very prominent Oscar award-winning director who showed up in his robe, asked me to take my clothes off, and said he needed to take Polaroids of me. And then if I did X, Y, and Z, I would be the next Marvel character."
Lawrence told this story while discussing the MeToo movement, and how men haven’t been as willing as women to talk about their experiences. “I didn’t do that, and my agency fired me because I left this director’s room,” he said. “It is a real thing, the casting couch. We all know it’s existed… Not a lot of guys have come out and talked about this in the industry. Granted, it’s probably about a third of what women go through, men go through this as well, whether it’s another woman or another man in power.”
Boy Meets World star Matthew Lawrence says director asked him to strip in exchange for Marvel role
Lawrence pointed to actor Terry Crews, who made news when he filed a lawsuit against Hollywood agent Adam Venit, whom Crews claimed groped him at a party. The case was settled in 2018. “Terry Crews comes out and says it; people are laughing at him. People don’t support him,” Lawrence said. “They kick him out. Why? Because he’s a man that represents masculinity, and I think our society is less ready to hear that situation going on with men than they are with women.”
Lawrence does not name the director in question. We do not know who it is, so this is purely speculation, but when I hear about a director trying to get a young actor to expose themselves in exchange for a role, the name that pops into my head is Bryan Singer, who directed the X-Men movies in the 2000s and who was accused of committing sexual misconduct against young men over a period of many years. But again, Lawrence doesn’t name this person — Singer never won an Oscar, to start — and I do not know myself.
As for Lawrence, he’s continued to work over the years, including in the 2015 Boy Meets World spinoff Girl Meets World. His next movie is Baby Dust, due out this year.
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