Tippi Hedren Says There’s More to Her Than Hitchcock’s Alleged Sexual Harassment

Hedren's memoir details how Alfred Hitchcock allegedly harassed her for years, starting with him making unwanted advances on the set of The Birds. Over the course of their professional relationship, Hitchcock's behavior became more aggressive and controlling; Hedren's memoir alleges he constantly drove by her house in his limousine and had her followed. "I couldn't tell anyone. It was the early 1960s," she writes. "Sexual harassment and stalking were terms that didn't exist back then."

While they were shooting Marnie, Hitchcock allegedly called Hedren into his office and sexually assaulted her. "I've never gone into detail about this, and I never will," Hedren writes. "I'll simply say that he suddenly grabbed me and put his hands on me. It was sexual, it was perverse, and it was ugly." After Hedren fought him off, she claims, he swore to ruin her career—and actively attempted to derail her, prohibiting her from taking other roles and lobbying against her.

Hedren's claims reverberated through the internet as soon as they became public: USA Today published an article titled "Tippi Hedren says Hitchcock sexually assaulted her" and the Daily Mail wrote, "Alfred Hitchcock tried to ruin Tippi Hedren's career after she refused his sexual demands." Even the BBC discussed the allegations.

But in a phone interview, she's reluctant to talk about what her memoir describes as "Hitchcock's obsessive, often embarrassingly ardent, often cruel behavior toward me." "Yes, he did make a pass at me, and I stopped it immediately, and that was the end of that," Hedren tells me. "I cut it off before it started. Every woman—no matter what vocation you take on, you are susceptible to that kind of treatment. I found very early in life to stop those things, stop it cold."

In the past few years, dozens of women have come forward with sexual assault and harassment allegations against famous men. They have several reasons to fear speaking up about abuse. As Hedren notes in her book, many people depict such crimes as advances that women invited or "locker room talk." Victims' names can also become forever linked to their assault, something Hedren doesn't want for herself. "I am sick and tired of answering the question about Alfred Hitchcock making advances upon me," she says. "People love to read about things like that. They love it… For those of us who have had to live it—I am tired of talking about it."

"I've made it my mission… to see that while Hitchcock may have ruined my career, I never gave him the power to ruin my life," Hedren writes in her memoir. After she ended her professional relationship with the director, she went on to star in several other films, including Mister Kingstreet's War, The Harrad Experiment, and A Countess from Hong Kong.

Looking back, she considers The Countess of Hong Kong one of her favorite films. Charlie Chaplin directed the picture, and Hedren worked alongside Sofia Loren and Marlon Brando. "I loved the way Charlie directed, because he'd get on the set and act out everyone's parts! It was delightful," Hedren says. "Marlon quite wanted to quit. He and his method acting—he didn't appreciate it at all. I loved it. I loved watching him!"

After she filmed Satan's Harvest and Mister Kingstreet's War in Africa in 1970 and 1971, she became enamored with endangered animals. She began campaigning for the protection of wildlife, especially big cats. In 1981, her she and her then husband, Noel Marshall, even created an exploitation film called Roar to raise awareness about the animals. She also petitioned Congress to pass the Captive Wildlife Safety Act, which President George W. Bush signed into law, and her passion for animal conservation is still obvious: During our interview, she spends several minutes talking about her affection for the feline family. "Since I was born I was always involved with animals," she says. "I always wanted to know more."

She's also known for her role in developing Vietnamese-American nail salons throughout the US: In the 1970s, while volunteering at Vietnamese refugee camp near Sacramento, Hedren noticed the women admiring her nails. "Every time we had a meeting they'd be fascinated by my fingernails, which were manicured impeccably," she recalls. "I thought, Wow! This might be a good thing for them to learn.'" Seeing an opportunity to help new immigrants find employment, she brought her manicurist to the camp, and she trained the women. "When the course was over, we said, 'Now you have to go down to beauty school to get your licenses,'" Hedren says. "I rented a bus and we sent them down to beauty school." Every single one of them passed the cosmetic license test, according to ABC.

Hedren reflects on her life warmly, and tells me it's been filled with wonderful memories. "I had to live my life to make it worthwhile," Hedren says. "It's been a long time. I've been very busy."