Allison Williams recalls being asked if she was 'the on-set eye candy' while shooting Boardwalk Empire 

Allison Williams is speaking out about her past experiences with misogyny in Hollywood.

During the Women Behind the Words panel at the Nantucket Film Festival, Williams and fellow panelists Nicole Holofcener and Michaela Watkins opened up about the disrespect they've endured over the course of their careers.

"There's like 10 stories fighting their way from my brain to my mouth that I'm trying to keep out of my mouth," Williams said, per IndieWire. "People just underestimate your humanity often as a young woman up and coming in our business."

Delving into specifics, Williams got candid about a frustrating experience prior to her breakout success on Girls. The 35-year-old actress previously revealed that during the early stages of her career, she earned a living as a stand-in on film and TV sets. She cited Boardwalk Empire as one of her favorite gigs, but even that positive experience wasn't free of insensitive comments from colleagues.

"I was a stand-in for the pilot of Boardwalk Empire, which was the coolest experience ever," Williams told the Nantucket audience. "An amazing pilot. It was shot on film. It was incredible. But I was at craft services and a member of the crew came up and said, 'So what do you do here? You're the on-set eye candy?'"

Williams noted that this was not a singular experience, recalling a similar instance on a different project.

"That's an example of, I'm at work and that's what someone says to me," Williams continued. "Or an actor I later worked with who watched me eat a pastry and said, 'Don't you want to be successful?' You know, those kinds of comments come up inevitably."

Looking to her fellow panelists, Williams added, "Look how un-shocked you both are. That familiar, fuzzy feeling. We've all heard it."

Although she has no shortage of similar stories, Williams took the opportunity to highlight the joys working with Girls creator Lena Dunham.

"For everything like that, there's, like, Lena who just so gently — and at basically my same age — would usher me through this very unusual experience," she said. "[She] was such an unbelievably talented writer and director, and was able to just get me to breathe and slow down and not do anything, and in doing that, just trust the material and trust that the talent is there."

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