Joanna Page, the Welsh actress best known for her role as Stacey Shipman in the beloved sitcom Gavin and Stacey, has spoken out about her experiences of sexual harassment within the entertainment industry. In a series of candid interviews and in her new memoir, Lush! My Story – From Swansea to Stacey and Everything In Between, Page, now 48, has detailed unsettling encounters with powerful men in television and theatre, revealing the persistent vulnerabilities faced by women in show business.
Page’s revelations come at a time when the industry is grappling with questions of safety, accountability, and the enduring presence of predatory behavior. According to Metro, the actress described how, early in her career, she was groped by a male television presenter during the filming of an entertainment show. What’s particularly striking is that she was warned in advance by a producer about the presenter’s reputation. “The producer came in and said, ‘Oh, just to give you a warning, he does like to get a bit handsy with the women. I think he’s going to like you, so just be prepared,’” Page recounted to the PA news agency. The warning, delivered with a sense of resignation, left Page feeling she simply had to accept the situation.
When the predicted incident occurred, Page responded not with confrontation but with humor, pushing his hand away and joking, “God, I feel like I’m in Bristol Zoo.” She explained her reaction, saying, “I tried to keep the incident light-hearted and would not have considered lodging a complaint at the time. It’s all very well saying ‘you’ve got to do this, you’ve got to do that’ but you’re a woman, you’re in there and it’s so hard to get jobs anyway and you don’t want to make a fuss.”
Page’s reluctance to speak out is a sentiment many women in the industry have echoed. “For starters, I’m a people pleaser. I don’t want to make a fuss or draw attention to what’s going on. I just want to get on with it. So, the only way to deal with it was laugh it off,” she told Metro. Legal considerations have also played a role in her silence. Page has chosen not to name the presenter, stating that her legal team advised her to “be careful.”
Unfortunately, this was not an isolated incident. Page recalled another encounter during the run of a stage play, when a well-known director entered her dressing room uninvited while she was in her underwear. “I remember being in my knickers and wrapping the curtain around me and this director coming and hugging me and wanting to give me a kiss and not leaving me alone,” she said. “I remember holding on to the curtain and not letting it go and just carrying on the conversation, being all polite and really nice, until eventually he went because nothing was going to happen.”
Reflecting on her career, Page noted that such behavior was far from rare. “It wasn’t every single job I went into, but in lots of different jobs there would be one type of thing,” she admitted. The environment, she explained, is ripe for exploitation. “When you’ve got young, beautiful girls who are desperate to get a job, there’s too much opportunity for it to happen in this profession.”
Page believes the power dynamics in show business—where older men often control casting and young women compete fiercely for roles—make it particularly susceptible to abuse. “Most of the time, the people who are giving you those jobs are older men, and they know that you want the job, and there’s a million girls out there trying to get the job. I think that will continue,” she told the PA news agency, as reported by BBC.
Despite the bleakness of her experiences, Page acknowledges that some progress has been made in recent years. She praised the introduction of intimacy coordinators and industry-wide reporting systems, describing intimacy coaches as “fantastic.” Now, she said, “there’s a lot more safety there and you’ve got phone numbers you can phone to report people if you feel like you’re being bullied.” Yet, she remains skeptical that these measures will fully eradicate harassment. “But I think, personally, that [sexual harassment] is always going to continue because there’s too much opportunity for it to happen in this profession,” Page said.
Her memoir, which goes on sale September 25, 2025, is a deeply personal account of her journey from Swansea to stardom, interwoven with stories of resilience and vulnerability. Page described the writing process as “like a therapy session,” noting that much of the book was drafted in unconventional places—a pub car park, a cricket club, and even outside her own home late at night. “It was therapeutic,” she told the PA news agency, “and it helped me process a lot of what happened.”
Page’s reflections come on the heels of Gavin and Stacey’s record-breaking return last Christmas, which drew more than 19 million viewers, making it one of the most-watched scripted television programs of the century. Her career has spanned not only television but also film, with credits in From Hell and Love Actually. She currently co-hosts the BBC podcast Off The Telly with EastEnders star Natalie Cassidy, continuing to bring her trademark warmth and wit to audiences.
Page’s willingness to share her story publicly is part of a broader reckoning within the entertainment industry, as more women come forward to challenge a culture of silence. As Metro notes, her revelations have sparked renewed conversations about the need for lasting change and the importance of supporting those who speak out. The newspaper’s ongoing campaign, This Is Not Right, aims to highlight the scale of violence against women and encourage others to share their experiences.
For Page, the hope is that her story will resonate with others who have faced similar challenges and encourage the industry to keep pushing for progress. “You don’t ever go, ‘Oh God, I’m going to report this,’ because in those days you kind of didn’t, you just got on with it, it was what happened at work,” she said. With her memoir, she hopes to shine a light on both the struggles and the strides made, offering a candid look at the realities behind the scenes of show business.
As the entertainment world continues to evolve, Page’s experiences serve as a sobering reminder of the work still to be done—and the courage it takes to speak out, even when it would be easier to stay silent.
