Liv Tyler: Actresses Treated Like ‘Second-Class’ Citizens at 38

Liv Tyler is the latest starlet to speak out about Hollywood ageism and sexism.

At 38, Tyler says she’s relegated to “second-class citizen” roles, which are often someone’s significant other.

“38 is a crazy number,” she told More magazine. “It’s not fun when you see things start to change. When you’re in your teens or 20s, there is an abundance of ingenue parts which are exciting to play. But at [my age], you’re usually the wife or the girlfriend — a sort of second-class citizen. There are more interesting roles for women when they get a bit older.”

Tyler joins the likes of Emma Thompson, Meryl Streep, Helen Mirren, Sandra Bullock, Salma Hayek and Maggie Gyllenhaal, who have recently decried Hollywood’s gender gap and denounced the sexism in the industry.

Thompson recently said that the movie industry has regressed when it comes to its treatment of women.

“I don’t think there’s any appreciable improvement, and I think that, for women, the question of how they are supposed to look is worse than it was even when I was young,” Thompson told the U.K. magazine Radio Times. “So no, I am not impressed, at all. I think it’s still completely s—, actually.”

However, Tyler has found a multi-dimensional character in Megan Abbott, a woman targeted by a cult, on the hit HBO series “The Leftovers.” Unlike movie roles, Tyler said she TV roles require actors to relinquish control.

“With a film, you have the script, and you know the beginning, middle and end,” she said. “With TV, they write as they go. I have no idea what my character is going to be doing … which is frustrating. Part of me loves it, and part of me hates it, having no control.”

“The Leftovers” returns to HBO on Oct. 4.

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