Want Melania, Ivanka to speak up: Meryl Streep on sexual harassment

Veteran actress Meryl Streep says she is still waiting to hear Melania and Ivanka Trump speak up about sexual harassment allegations in both Hollywood and politics.

The actress discussed the recent wave of sexual harassment allegations in both Hollywood and politics in a New York Times interview, reports variety.com.

"I want to hear about the silence of (US First Lady) Melania Trump. I want to hear from her. She has so much that's valuable to say. And so does (President Donald Trump's daughter) Ivanka. I want her to speak now," Streep said.

She also addressed how she decided to speak up about the allegations against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein.

"I really had to think. Because it really underlined my own sense of cluelessness, and also how evil, deeply evil, and duplicitous, a person he was, yet such a champion of really great work," she said.

She added: "You make movies. You think you know everything about everybody. So much gossip. You don't know anything. People are so inscrutable on a certain level. And it's a shock. Some of my favourite people have been brought down by this, and he's not one of them."

The actress, who worked with Weinstein on many films including her Oscar-winning role in "The Iron Lady", faced criticism from some claiming she knew he was a predator, which she denied.

"I really didn't know. I did think he was having girlfriends. But when I heard rumours about actresses, I thought that that was a way of denigrating the actress and her ability to get the job," Streep said.

The actress added: "That really raised my hackles. I didn't know that he was in any way abusing people. He never asked me to a hotel room. I don't know how his life was conducted without people intimately knowing about it."

Streep is one of the 300 women in Hollywood who joined to create Time's Up, a movement for protecting women in all industries.