Miss Ohio Audrey Bolte on Sunday cited Julia Roberts' prostitute character in the film Pretty Woman as a role where women were portrayed in an "accurate and positive way."
“Do you think women are depicted in movies and on television in an accurate and positive way? And please give us an example," Judge Marilu Henner asked the top five finalist during Sunday's Miss USA pageant on NBC.
"I think it depends on the movie," Bolte replied. "I think there are some movies that depict women in a very positive role, and then some movies that put them in a little bit more of negative role. But by the end of the movie, they show that woman power that I know we all have."
"Such as movie Pretty Woman," she pointed out. "We had a wonderful, beautiful woman, Julia Roberts, and she was having a rough time, but, you know what, she came out on top and she didn’t let anybody stand in her path."
Actress Daryl Hannah has said that "[o]ne of the things I'm most proud of is refusing to take Julia's role" in Pretty Woman.
"Every time I see it I like it less and less," the Splash star explained in 2007. "They sold it as a romantic fairytale when in fact it's a story about a prostitute who becomes a lady by being kept by a rich and powerful man."
"I think that film is degrading for the whole of womankind."
(h/t: Mediaite)
