Alanis Morissette is not happy about her upcoming documentary Jagged.
In case you didn’t know, the 47-year-old singer participated in the HBO film to talk about her rise to stardom around the 25th anniversary of her biggest album, the record-shattering double diamond Jagged Little Pill.
However, before its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, The Washington Post reported that Morissette would not promote the movie or even attend the debut. Why? Because she was upset with the final product.
Related: Alanis Opened Up About Pregnancy Challenges & ‘A Bunch Of Miscarriages’
While there weren’t specific details at the time as to why, Alanis has now spoken out against the film in a statement to Deadline on Tuesday. She slammed the creators for having a “salacious agenda” and including “implications and facts that are simply not true,” explaining:
“i agreed to participate in a piece about the celebration of jagged little pill’s 25th anniversary, and was interviewed during a very vulnerable time (while in the midst of my third postpartum depression during lockdown). i was lulled into a false sense of security and their salacious agenda became apparent immediately upon my seeing the first cut of the film. this is when i knew our visions were in fact painfully diverged. this was not the story i agreed to tell.”
Wow.
The You Oughta Know songstress did not dive into her issues with Jagged, but from her use of the word “salacious” we can probably hazard a guess. We’ve already heard about a very sensitive moment in which Morissette reveals that she was a victim of statutory rape by multiple men when she was a 15-year-old burgeoning pop star.
It was apparently a subject of some controversy even within Alanis herself. She is quoted as saying in the doc:
“It took me years in therapy to even admit there had been any kind of victimization on my part. I would always say I was consenting, and then I’d be reminded like ‘Hey, you were 15, you’re not consenting at 15.’ Now I’m like, ‘Oh yeah, they’re all pedophiles. It’s all statutory rape.’”
We can’t say for sure this is the part of the documentary that Morissette had a problem with, but we can imagine reliving a painful experience was not easy in the first place.
Alanis continued her statement, saying that she refuses to support a “reductive take” on her life story:
“i sit here now experiencing the full impact of having trusted someone who did not warrant being trusted. i have chosen not to attend any event around this movie for two reasons: one is that i am on tour right now. the other is that, not unlike many ‘stories’ and unauthorized biographies out there over the years, this one includes implications and facts that are simply not true. while there is beauty and some elements of accuracy in this/my story to be sure — i ultimately won’t be supporting someone else’s reductive take on a story much too nuanced for them to ever grasp or tell.”
Oof, that is definitely not a glowing review for the doc!
Speaking to Deadline at the film festival, director Alison Klayman addressed her subject’s absence from the screening and negative reaction to the final cut of the product, saying:
“It’s a really hard thing to see a movie made about yourself and I think she’s incredibly brave and her reaction when she saw it was that it was a really — she could feel all the work, all the nuance that went into it.”
“All the nuance,” huh? We think it’s safe to say Alanis would completely disagree with Klayman’s statement!
What are your thoughts on the songwriter’s claims that the documentary includes facts that are “simply not true”? Will YOU still be watching?? Let us know in the comments (below).
[Image via Adriana M. Barraza/WENN]
The post Alanis Morissette Bashes Her Own HBO Documentary Amid Statutory Rape Claims, Says Much Is ‘Simply Not True’ appeared first on Perez Hilton.