Rebecca Ferguson has explained why she decided not to publicly name her co-star, who she once described as an “absolute idiot” after a harrowing confrontation on set, saying the experience was more about her own growth than exposing someone else.
The Golden Globe nominee revisited the incident two years after first speaking about it in a February 2024 appearance on the Reign with Josh Smith podcast.
In a new interview with Harper’s BazaarFerguson made it clear that his decision to keep the person’s identity private was intentional.
“It wasn’t about the person. It was about me,” she said, reflecting on how unprepared she felt at the time to defend herself in a calm, direct manner.
She admitted that the situation felt overwhelming, adding that she didn’t know how to request a private conversation back then, something she thinks she might handle differently now.
Ferguson also addressed broader conversations about workplace behavior, rejecting criticism of changes to industry standards.
“A lot of people say we’ve become too woke, but I think not, it’s great. The pendulum needs to swing the other way so we can find a balance between the two,” he said, suggesting that open discussions about power and respect are long overdue.
The original incident, which took place years earlier, involved a co-star yelling at her during filming, leaving her so upset that she left the set in tears.
At that point, Ferguson recalled the actor yelling, “You call yourself an actor? This is what I have to work with?”
He later revealed that he demanded that the individual leave the set and asked him to perform in front of a tennis ball, explaining that the person’s superior status made the situation seem particularly isolating.
“Because this person was number one on the call sheet, there was no safety net for me,” he said in 2024. “No one had my back.”
Since he first shared the story, online speculation has swirled around the identity of the anonymous actor.
Ferguson has firmly dismissed some of the most common speculation, confirming that it wasn’t Hugh Jackman or Tom Cruise.
Dwayne Johnson also appeared to distance himself from the claims after publicly showing his support.
Despite the curiosity surrounding the incident, Ferguson remains focused on why she spoke out in the first place, not to shame anyone else, but to highlight an experience that many artists endure in silence and to show how far she has come since that moment.
