MovieChat Forums > Shirley Temple Discussion > Producer exposed himself when she was 11

Producer exposed himself when she was 11


In her 1988 autobiography "Child Star," Shirley Temple talked about the sexual abuse she suffered during her career from various actors and studio executives, including when she was a child. One experience happened when she first moved from 20th Century Fox to MGM to make this film.

She was invited into the office of Arthur Freed, known for his work on hits like An American in Paris (1951) and Singin' in the Rain (1952). Freed declared that she would be his new star, and then unzipped his pants and exposed himself to the actress, who was 12 years old at the time.

Maybe out of youthful innocence or just out of shock, Temple began to laugh. This angered the producer, who then threw her out of his office.

Makes you wonder how many other young girls Freed did this to and how many took him up on his advances.

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I apologize if this is hijacking your thread, but the first thing that came to my mind was a cartoon from Merrie Melodies or Looney Tunes, there was a girl chicken on a farm that dreamed of being a movie star, she goes to Hollywood, has a terrible experience, and returns to the farm... I don't remember the cartoon... it didn't have big characters like Bugs Bunny or Foghorn Leghorn...

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Freed was a perverted sicko. It is possible, some stupid, gullible young girls allowed him to seduce them. Hopefully, he got kicked in the nuts a few times, or a few mothers punched him out, or threatened to sue him for his perverted behavior. But sadly dreams of stardom and money talk too, always has, always will!

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Only accusation I can find online is from Temple. You’d think there’d be other reports or no one else complained.

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