Ellie Goulding has said that she was made to feel like a “sexual object” in the early part of her career.
The singer told the Guardian she was often made to feel vulnerable in her dealings with the music industry.
Goulding said she was initially “scared” to align herself with the #MeToo movement and was worried she would be “judged” for her experiences.
She told the newspaper: “The first producer I met wanted to sleep with me. And I was like, ‘Why?’
“I didn’t see myself as an object of desire.”
Goulding said she had other similar experiences early on in her career.
“I wouldn’t be able to get home because I couldn’t afford it, and they would say, ‘You can stay’.
“But there would always be the suggestion of something.
“I’d have to laugh it off – I constantly had to laugh things off.
“Other sessions would have alcohol and it would get to a point where the man would say something suggestive and I’d feel uncomfortable.”
Goulding said her career began with being made to feel “like a sexual object, and being made to feel vulnerable in those sessions”.
“I really was programmed into thinking that that was part of how to succeed,” she said.
Goulding added that many other female singers would be able to relate to her experiences.