Gretchen Carlson Talks Eliminating Non-Disclosure Agreements

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: You know, your experience which was #MeToo before #MeToo, has had so much publicity, so much part of the mainstream, you know, cultural touchstones in terms of entertainment. And yet, because of your NDA you weren’t even allowed to consult with them on the films, you couldn’t point out what was wrong or right. I guess walk us through and our audience what it’s like to be at the center of a storm and not even be able to describe what you went through?

GRETCHEN CARLSON: Well, thank you for tying (ph) it up that way, Christiane, because, you know, that is my reality. The fact of the matter is that that’s incredibly frustrating because Hollywood, as you know and I know, you know, they take liberties with really-life stories. But to not be able to even say, well, that didn’t happen that way and, you know, well, that’s not really how that played out, you know, that’s frustrating.

But look, I have to take the high road, while I continue to do all of this advocacy work to make it a better world for other women moving forward, I have to take the high road and say, these projects are continuing the discussion about harassment in the workplace. And three years ago, if you and I would have been having a conversation, saying, hey, I think they’re going to do a miniseries and a Hollywood movie about harassment in the workplace, we would have laughed at each other because nobody was interested in talking about it.

So, big picture, this is continuing the dialogue, this encouraging more women to feel secure and confident in coming forward. And even if only one or two more women go to these movies, watch the miniseries and they say, say, I’m also going to come forward, then it’s worth it. And so, that’s the way that I look at these prongs. It may be too late for me to get out of my NDA and actually make another movie or write another book or whatever the case is. But I’m doing this effort with Lift Your Voices — Lift Our Voices for other women. That’s what this is really about. This is about the woman making $25,000 a year, you know, working in a small town in Louisiana or in London or wherever the case may be, and they don’t have the platform that I have to come forward and to make a change and make a difference. I’m working on behalf of those women who have been silenced because they need every dime to simply make it through the next week.

AMANPOUR: OK. So, let me just be cheeky then. Give me a nod if you think that Nicole Kidman did a great job portraying you in “Bombshell.”

CARLSON: And here is — you’re proving my point, Christiane. I can’t even tell you the accuracy of this project or not.

AMANPOUR: And you can’t even nod?

CARLSON: I can’t even nod.

AMANPOUR: So, you know, what do you say then to those women who are often the lawyers who say that they’re really there to help the victims and the plaintiffs in these cases, and who end up urging their clients to precisely do — you know, sign NDAs, take the money and run?

CARLSON: Yes. I totally disagree with that. Listen, we need to approach the way in which we handle these stories and these cases completely differently than we have in the past,