Rita Moreno’s Own Rape Reminded by ‘West Side Story’ Assault Scene

• Rita Moreno spoke out about the abuse she suffered in Hollywood during an interview with “60 Minutes.”
• She remembered being raped as a teenager by her agent.
• Moreno claimed that she used her pain to film Anita’s attack scene. “West Side Story.”

Rita Moreno has recently opened to Bill Whitaker is a contributor to this article “60 Minutes”InterviewAbout her career and about her star-making, award-winning role as Anita in 1961’s classic film “West Side Story” — and that included revisiting the darker moments.

Moreno contemplated what it was to film the scene when Anita was attacked by Jets gang members. “During rehearsals when they were mauling me,”Whitaker was told by she. “I pushed them away and started to cry and I could not stop.”

She said that the scene was a great one. “all of those scars”She believed her past trauma had healed and she was now ready to face the future. “just opened up.”

Moreno spoke out before about sexual harassment and abuse at Hollywood’s young age. This was years before her eight-year, turbulent relationship with Marlon brando. Moreno spoke out earlier in 2021. She spoke out about being raped and abused by her agentWhen she was 16-17 years old, which was also covered in the documentary about her personal life “Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It.”

Whitaker was again able to hear her talk about her assault.

“He put his hand on my cheek and mounted me,”Whitaker was told by she. “I struggled, but he did it all.”

Moreno admitted to feeling shame over the attack, even though it was too late to stop it. She said she is channeling real-life pain into Anita’s attempted rape scene. She described herself as “a wounded animal.”

“I thought, ‘How would Marlon say that,'” she told Whitaker, explaining that she channeled her partner to help her utter the words “Don’t you touch me”She gritted her teeth.

“That is the scene that I know got me the Oscar,” Moreno said.

Moreno says that winning an Academy Award or any other distinguished honor did not help her move past Hollywood racism. She recalls how she was still typecast and that she was offered only roles in the movies. “lesser” gang movies after “West Side Story,”This inspired her to make the move from California to New York.

“I think that perseverance is my middle name,”Moreno went on to achieve EGOT status in California after leaving California. He was one of only 16 people to win an Emmy Emmy, Grammy Oscar, Oscar or Tony award.

Moreno appears on the remake of “West Side Story”December 10 in the theater