Sarah Michelle Gellar, who rose to fame playing Buffy Summers on the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" TV series, is opening up about her experience of working on an "extremely toxic male set" during the early years of her career.
The 45-year-old actor got candid about the ordeal at a recent Power of Storytelling: Producers Roundtable at the TheWrap’s Power of Women Summit in Los Angeles.
"For so long, I was on a set that I think was known for being an extremely toxic male set, and so that was ingrained in my head that that was what all sets were like, and that women were pitted against each other — that if women became friends, then we became too powerful, so you had to keep that down," Gellar said, according to The Wrap.
The star went on to emphasize the importance of surrounding herself with supportive women throughout her career.
"Now that I've had this opportunity to work with so many more women and men that support women as well, I realized how easy an experience it can be, but … unfortunately we’re still in that place where all of those departments a lot of times need to be women for us to have a voice," she added.
Gellar did not specifically call out series creator Joss Whedon or the popular television series by name but she has previously spoken about her time on the set of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," while addressing ongoing rumors about on-set tension in her book, "Into Every Generation a Slayer Is Born: How Buffy Staked Our Hearts."
"I think that unfortunately, the set we were on, and the world we were in, was pitting us against each other," Gellar wrote, according to Entertainment Tonight. "I think it would have been different if it was today. It would have been a very different relationship. But we have a great relationship now."
In 2021, Charisma Carpenter, who played Cordelia Chase on both "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and the spin-off "Angel," spoke out about Whedon, accusing him of being "casually cruel" in a statement on Instagram.
"He has created hostile and toxic work environments since his early career. I know because I experienced it firsthand. Repeatedly," she tweeted. "Like his ongoing, passive-aggressive threats to fire me, which wreaks havoc on a young actor's self-esteem. And callously calling me 'fat' to colleagues when I was 4 months pregnant, weighing 126 lbs.
"He was mean and biting, disparaging about others openly, and often played favorites, pitting people against one another to compete and vie for his attention and approval."