Tippi Hedren Talks Harassment From Hitchcock In HBO’s The Girl

Sienna Miller takes on the role of Tippi Hedren this weekend, portraying the actress in HBO’s “The Girl,” which offers a look at Alfred Hitchcock’s obsession with the actress.

“She’s wonderful. I just love her,” Tippi told Billy Bush and Kit Hoover on Friday’s Access Hollywood Live, speaking about the British actress’ portrayal of Tippi’s younger self. “She’s in Pittsburgh right now starting a film and we were emailing each other back and I just thought, ‘Oh what fun it would be to be able to watch it with her [Saturday] night.’”

After being spotted in a commercial by Hitchcock’s wife, Alma, and cast by the famed director in “The Birds,” the film follows the actress as his obsession with her grows.

“I think if anybody out in the audience… has been the object of someone’s obsession, [they know] it’s absolutely horrible and I was caught in this situation of being under contract, to him,” Tippi said, referring to how despite wishing to get out from under Hitchcock’s thumb, she was locked into a contract, and therefore unable to find work as an actress elsewhere. “It was the studio system, so there was really nobody that I could go to, to talk about [this with].”

Tippi said Hitchcock engaged in behavior behind-the-scenes that frightened the single mom, who was raising her daughter (Melanie Griffith).

“I was followed, he had my handwriting analyzed,” Tippi told Billy and Kit. “He did everything he could to – well, I don’t know what people do when they’re obsessed other than what he did. He just made my life absolutely miserable.”

In one scene in the film, Hitchcock, played by Toby Jones (“W.” “Infamous”), lunges at a dozing off Tippi in the car, kissing her and moving his body atop hers. She exits the car in the film, after fighting him off, looking distressed and tearful.
Asked if Hitchcock tried to force himself on her in real life, Tippi claimed he did.

“Yes, and it was — I tell you, I could write a book about how do you get out of situations like this for women who are in the business world. But I think [what] this film will do is give young women the opportunity to say, ‘I do not have to acquiesce to any demands put upon me that I am not interested in,’” she said.

“I had a strong Lutheran background,” she added. “My parents taught me morals and you know what’s right and you know what’s wrong and this was wrong.”

“The Girl” premieres on HBO on Saturday night at 9 PM.

— Jolie Lash