Lost creator J.J. Abrams has apologised to Evangeline Lilly after she said she felt pressured into filming partially-nude scenes for the hit fantasy drama.
Lilly, who played Kate Austen for the show's six-season run, said in an interview for Jack Shepherd and Jacob Stolworthy's podcast The Lost Boys that she was "basically cornered" into doing a scene in season three that left her "mortified and trembling".
She said: "In season three, I’d had a bad experience on set with being basically cornered into doing a scene partially naked, and I felt had no choice in the matter.
"And I was mortified and I was trembling when it finished. I was crying my eyes out, and I had to go and do a very formidable, very strong scene thereafter."
The actress said she had a similar experience while shooting the fourth season of the show which led to her refusing to do any more nude scenes.
She explained: "In season four, another scene came up where Kate was undressing and I fought very hard to have that scene be under my control. And I failed to control it again.
"So I then said, 'That’s it, no more. You can write whatever you want - I won’t do it. I will never take my clothes off on this show again.' And I didn’t."
Following the revelations, Abrams, his Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof and executive producers Jack Bender and Carlton Cuse released a statement in which they said they are "deeply and sincerely sorry" for her experiences.
Their joint statement read: "Our response to Evie’s comments this morning in the media was to immediately reach out to her to profoundly apologize for the experience she detailed while working on Lost.
"We have not yet connected with her, but remain deeply and sincerely sorry. No person should ever feel unsafe at work. Period."
The actress, who is currently starring in Ant Man and The Wasp, said she is "a little bit better equipped" to deal with situations like that now.
"I’ve been doing this now for 15 years. I’m a little bit better equipped now to know the ropes, to not have uncomfortable positions come up now," she added.
"Because I have had uncomfortable experiences, when I read scripts where it involves nudity, I pass. And it’s not because I think there’s anything wrong with doing nudity. It’s because I don’t trust that I can be comfortable and safe.
"I’m lucky; I’m in a privileged position because I can be picky. I feel for women who are struggling to come up in the industry and don’t know how to navigate that."
