Megan Fox Denies Being “Preyed Upon” by ‘Transformers’ Director Michael Bay

Megan Fox is opening up about her experience with Transformers director Michael Bay. In a statement released on Instagram, Fox addressed the 2009 Jimmy Kimmel Live clip that has circulated online in recent days, explaining that it unfairly casts a “sinister shadow” over her relationship with the director. “When it comes to my direct experiences with Michael,” wrote the actress, “I was never assaulted or preyed upon in what I felt was a sexual manner.”

Over the weekend, Twitter users began sharing a clip from a 2009 interview in which Fox recalls her experience as an extra on the Bad Boys II set. “I had just turned 15, and I was an extra in Bad Boys II,” she tells Jimmy Kimmel. “I was wearing a stars and stripes bikini and a red cowboy hat and six-inch heels.” The actress says that Bay “approved” her outfit, but because of her age, she couldn’t be seated at the bar. Instead, the director had her “dancing underneath the waterfall getting soaking wet. At 15, I was in tenth grade.”

Also in 2009, The Guardian film critic Jason Solomons said that Fox told him she was asked to audition for Transformers at Bay’s home, where he “made her wash his Ferrari while he filmed her.”

Fox’s fans immediately began to lash out at Bay and Kimmel (the late night host makes a few lewd jokes about her story), and by Monday, the controversy had made its way back to the Transformers star. “I know that a discussion has erupted online surrounding some of my experiences in Hollywood and the subsequent mishandling of this information by the media and society in general,” she wrote in a lengthy Instagram post. “While I greatly appreciate the outpouring of support, I do feel I need to clarify some of the details as they have been lost in the retelling of the event.”

The actress explained that “there are multiple interviews” where she shared the Bad Boys II anecdote, but confirmed that she was underage at the time. “It’s important to note however that when I auditioned for Transformers I was 19 or 20,” said Fox, adding that she “did ‘work'” on Bay’s Ferrari during her audition, but not at his home. “It was at the Platinum Dunes studio parking lot, there were several other crew members and employees present and I was at no point undressed or anything similar.”

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May we all continue waking up❤️

A post shared by Megan Fox (@meganfox) on Jun 22, 2020 at 6:15pm PDT

“I hope that whatever opinions are formed around these episodes will at least be seeded in the facts of the events,” added Fox. “I thank you for your support. But these specific instances were inconsequential in a long and arduous journey along which I have endured some genuinely harrowing experiences in a ruthlessly misogynistic industry.”

Michael Bay has yet to respond to Fox’s Instagram statement.

Where to stream Transformers