Christine Blasey Ford received a Hollywood welcome on Sunday night when Kerry Washington, Elizabeth Banks, Busy Phillips, Marisa Tomei and more gathered to toast the release of her new memoir, “One Way Back.”
“We stand with you because you have stood with us so courageously, and we honor you and we celebrate you. We lift our glasses to you tonight,” Washington said. “To your courage, to your beauty, to your generosity as you continue to do more than you have to. You owe us nothing, and we owe you everything.”
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Ford, a psychology professor at Stanford University, was catapulted into the spotlight in 2018 when she alleged that U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when they were teenagers in 1982 during a party in Bethesda, Maryland. She testified about the allegations before a Senate Judiciary Committee.
The afternoon gathering for “One Way Back” at restaurant Ardor at the West Hollywood Edition hotel was hosted by Washington as well as journalist and The Meteor co-founder Cindi Leive, photographer and author Amanda de Cadenet, Invisible Hand CEO Genevieve Roth and Propper Daley CEO Greg Propper.
Leive read a message to Ford sent by Anita Hill. “Christine, you will always be to me the finest example of bravery and commitment to truth, even in the face of indifference and hostility,” Hill wrote. “Thank you for writing ‘One Way Back’…It is a testament to your honesty and your willingness to relive your painful experiences so that other victims of violence can be heard. Just as your testimony did in 2018, today, ‘One Way Back’ will pave the path for the healing and accountability that survivors desire and that they also deserve.”
Leive said that many of the people who RSVPed for the event called Ford a “hero” and a “icon” when they received their invitation for the party.
“All of those things are true,” Leive said. “You are all of those things. But you’re also a person, a scientist, a hilarious person, a surfer as everybody who reads this incredible memoir will know. You’re somebody who can talk about Soundgarden in the same sentence as limbic change — which I think I now understand — and you could make a Metallica playlist with the best of them. And I’m so excited that through this book, everybody’s going to get to know the person you are beyond that moment of navy suit, hand up patriotism.”
De Cadenet became friends with Ford after co-writing an open letter to her following Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the Supreme Court. “The word inspiration is extremely overused these days but you truly embody inspiration,” de Cadenet said Sunday. “I think we can all agree with that.”
Ford offered brief remarks. “It’s so nice to meet new people and new friends and allies and I just really look forward to speaking with you further while I’m here,” she said. “Thank you so much for reading the book and I hope you like it.”
The guest list was a mix of media personalities, activists, writers, lawyers, artists and entertainment executives, including Monica Lewinsky, Dylan Mulvaney, Phillip Picardi of the Los Angeles LGBT Center, Sarah Jones, attorney Nina Shaw, Christy Haubegger, writer Anna Holmes, goop executive Noora Raj Brown, Jodie Patterson, Krista Tippet, Shiza Shahid, Freize’s Christine Messinio. Several of Ford’s family members and close friends were also in attendance.
Additional support for the event was provided by Invisible Hand, Propper Daley and A Day of Unreasonable Conversation.
