Megyn Kelly Breaks Silence on Charlize Theron’s Portrayal on Big Screen in ‘Bombshell’

Megyn Kelly has finally broken her silence on Bombshell. The film stars Charlize Theron as Kelly during her tenure at Fox News, and chronicles how she and a number of other co-workers banded together to address the culture of sexual harassment that was perpetrated by founder Roger Ailes. In an Instagram post (via E! News), Kelly made her first thoughts about the film public as she and her husband were taking their kids to Frozen II.

“As we walked into the theatre, our 6-year-old stopped at this poster promoting another movie hitting the big screen. The ad confused him because it appears to show a picture of me,” Kelly’s caption began.

“But while the movie Bombshell is loosely based on my experience during the sexual harassment scandal at Fox News, I have nothing to do with this film. I did not sell the rights to my story or book and only got my first look at the film once it was past the point of any possible edits, though there are certainly some I would have made.
Watching this picture was an incredibly emotional experience for me, and for those with whom I saw it. Sexual harassment is pervasive in this country; it can leave scars that do not heal. My heart goes out to those who’ve gone through it, who I hope might find some comfort in this story.”

“As for my thoughts about the film, I’ll have more soon,” Kelly concluded.

While Kelly previously said that Theron “seems smart, seems like a good mom,” the actress has said that playing Kelly was more challenging than a serial killer, referring to her 2003 role as Aileen Wuornos in Monster, which won her an Academy Award and Golden Globe Award that year.

“She’s incredibly well known,” Theron said about the role. “I’ve never played anybody on that level. I’ve played real people that nobody knows about so there was less pressure when I did those.” It was so much pressure that the actress considering passing on the role entirely.

“Maybe there’s somebody out there who can do this better than you can,” she thought. “But I was just really scared too. I honestly knew her so superficially.”

Bombshell, which also stars Nicole Kidman as Gretchen Carlson, Margot Robbie as Kayla Pospisil and John Lithgow as Ailes, is slated to open in theaters everywhere on Dec. 20.