As one of TV's first female superheroes, former Wonder Woman Lynda Carter has long been a beloved icon to millions, and her recurring role within the Arrow-verse's Supergirl has been a huge delight for fans. Sadly, Carter's talents have sometimes been enjoyed in disgustingly unjust ways. During an interview centering on the entertainment industry's harassment problems, the actress revealed that back in her Wonder Woman days, she discovered a Peeping Tom had been watching her in her dressing room.
There was a cameraman who drilled a hole in my dressing room wall on the Warner Brothers lot. . . . They caught him, fired him, and drummed him out of the business.
Lynda Carter didn't reveal the name of the cameraman in question during her interview with The Daily Beast, and nor did she go into further details about the dressing room situation. One can only blindly and illogically hope for the least awful sequence of events to be the case there. But the actress finding a hole in her dressing room wall speaks to the more indirect ways in which sexual misconduct occurs on TV and movie sets. And it's been 40 years since Wonder Woman was in production on that Warner Bros. lot, so it also adds further proof to the well-known fact that such salacious acts have been happening forever.
Given the nature of her Wonder Woman costume, Lynda Carter has spent almost her entire career as a Hollywood sex symbol. And while she is most certainly proud of being a symbol of female empowerment, Carter wishes her breasts (and those of others) wouldn't be so central to the conversation. And those thoughts have reached a new and frustrating clarity now that we know she was dealing with a Peeping Tom during the Wonder Woman production.
Carter also shared that she suffered further sexual harassment and abuse during her career from at least one person, and though she didn't identify him, she said he is currently facing an impending legal punishment. She claimed she'd put thought into also taking action against the man, but later decided not to. Her reasoning was that justice was already going to prevail without her needing to get involved, and that her input wouldn't add to the ramifications. She did concede that the punishment "isn't enough," however.
Through her words, actions and entire career, Lynda Carter has inspired millions of women to find power in confidence and pride, and she will continue to do so for many more years. She'll soon be doing just that on Smithsonian Channel for the three-part historical miniseries Epic Warrior Women, on which Carter will serve as narrator.
You can find Epic Warrior Women premiering on Monday, March 19, at 8:00 p.m. ET. And head to our midseason premiere schedule to find all the other new and returning shows heading to TV soon.
