Sean Connery’s Playboy interview about beating women reappears

Connery, who died last week at the age of 90, told Playboy in 1965, “I don’t think it’s particularly wrong to hit a woman, although I don’t recommend doing it the way you would hit a man. He added that an “open-handed” slap was “justified” when “all other alternatives fail and there have been many warnings,” and continued, “If a woman is a slut or hysterical or constantly bloody, it is me would do it. ”

Several critics took to Twitter to remind the public of the James Bond star’s earlier testimony, including actor Bradley Whitford, who wrote on Twitter“Sean Connery seemed cool. Hitting women without an apology isn’t cool. ”

“Sean Connery was an actor who was loved by many. He was also an abuser, a misogynist, and an advocate of violence against women. The system enabled him to have a long and illustrious career. It’s okay to criticize that, ”one woman tweeted over the weekend.

Years after his initial remarks, Connery responded to his comments in a 1987 interview with Barbara Walters and said that he still stood by what he said to Playboy.

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“I haven’t changed my mind … When you’ve tried everything else – and women are pretty good at it – you can’t leave it alone,” he said to Walters at the time. “They want the last word and you give them the last word, but they’re not happy with the last word. You want to say it again and get into a really provocative situation then I think it’s absolutely right. ”

Six years later, in an interview with Vanity Fair, he clarified his comments and suggested that his words be taken out of context.

“I really said beating a woman isn’t the worst,” he told Vanity Fair in 1993. “That’s what I said in my book – it’s far more cruel to harm someone psychologically … to use them.” Such hardship that they really come to hate themselves. Sometimes there are women who get it down to earth. That’s what they’re looking for, the ultimate confrontation – they want a punch. ”

And then, in 2006, Connery appeared to have flipped his position on the matter.

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“I don’t think I believe that abuse of women in any circumstances is ever warranted. Period, ”he told the Times of London in 2006.

That same year, Connery’s first wife, Diane Cilento, claimed in her autobiography, My Nine Lives, that he was abusive during their marriage, which lasted from 1962 to 1973. Connery denied the allegations.

The film legend and Cilento shared a 57-year-old son Jason. Connery married Micheline Roquebrune in 1975.

Roquebrune said her husband went to sleep “peacefully” after battling dementia.

This story originally appeared on page 6 and is republished here with permission.