ET spoke exclusively to the actress ahead of her empowering speech at Elle‘s Women in Hollywood Celebration.
Jennifer Lawrence revealed exclusively to ET's Carly Steel that she is focused on "creating a community" of support for women in Hollywood after her own experiences with sexism in the industry.
At Monday night's Elle's 24th Annual Women in Hollywood Celebration, presented in part by L'Oreal Paris and Calvin Klein, the Oscar winner gave an empowering speech where she revealed that the producers of one of her first films asked her to quickly lose weight and subjected her to an uncomfortable audition process.
"When I was much younger and starting out, I was told by producers of a film to lose 15 pounds in two weeks," she recalled, noting that another actress had already been fired for not slimming down fast enough. "During this time, a female producer had me do a nude line-up with about five women who were much, much, thinner than me. We all stood side-by-side with only tape on covering our privates."
Lawrence continued, "After that degrading and humiliating line-up, the female producer told me I should use the naked photos of myself as inspiration for my diet."
The Hunger Games star said she attempted to stand up for herself by telling another producer that she found the weight loss demands inappropriate. "He said he didn’t know why everyone thought I was so fat, he thought I was ‘perfectly f**kable,'" she recounted.
Lawrence said the incident left her feeling "trapped."
"I let myself be treated a certain way because I felt I had to for my career," she confessed. "I’m still learning that I don’t have to smile when a man makes me uncomfortable. Every human being should have the power to be treated with respect because they’re human."
Ahead of her speech, Lawrence shared with ET that she does have some strong female influences in entertainment. "Charlize Theron I met when I was 17. I played a younger version of her [in the 2008 movie The Burning Plain] and she was so nice to me," she said, praising the 42-year-old actress. "I feel like I always see her every few years and she's always been so nice to me and supportive. I told her I wanted to go over to house and have her tell me what to do with my life, and she's like, 'I'd love to.'"
Lawrence also noted that Diane Lane, Gloria Steinem, Jane Fonda and Oprah Winfrey are role models for her. "Oprah Winfrey, I met recently and it was life changing," she quipped.
Now it's Lawrence's turn to be an inspiration to women everywhere, and she's up for the task. "We're coming together and we're creating a community of support," she declared. "Hopefully -- if God forbid it happens again, which unfortunately I'm sure it will -- somebody feels they have a place to go to. They know they have support. I think that's all we really can do right now."
After numerous women came forward alleging that Harvey Weinstein sexually harassed and/or assaulted them, Lawrence -- who worked with the movie mogul on Silver Linings Playbook -- released a statement to ET in support of those coming forward with their stories.
“I was deeply disturbed to hear the news about Harvey Weinstein’s behavior,” Lawrence said of the allegations. “This kind of abuse is inexcusable and absolutely upsetting.”
She continued, “My heart goes out to all of the women affected by these gross actions, and I want to thank them for their bravery to come forward.”
Here's a look at how other A-list stars have reacted the Weinstein scandal: