Breakfast Club star Molly Ringwald, 56, says she was 'taken advantage of by predators' as a young actress in Hollywood

Molly Ringwald, who began her career as a child actress on the sitcoms, revealed she was 'taken advantage of' in the early days of her career.

While appearing on the WTF with Marc Maron podcast, the actress, 56, insisted that she was 'too young' for Hollywood fame and alleged that any young starlet on the film scene has to deal with having 'predators' around them. 

'I never really felt like I was part of a community when I was in Hollywood, just because I was so young, really,' the former teen idol said. 'I wasn't into going out to clubs. I feel like I'm more social now than I was then. I was just too young.' 

Maron, 60, replied: 'Well, you're lucky you didn't get taken advantage of or got into some sort of horrible situation.' 

'Oh, I was taken advantage of,' the mother-of-three said, with a laugh. 'You can't be a young actress in Hollywood and not have predators around.' 

Molly Ringwald, who began her career as a child actress on the sitcoms, revealed she was 'taken advantage of' in the early days of her career; seen in 2023

The Pretty In Pink star - who started out by starring in a national production of Annie in the late 1970s but has now carved out a secondary career as a translator - revealed she had 'definitely been in questionable situations' during the height of her fame and tried 'so hard' to steer her daughter in any direction other than show business.

Molly - who has 20-year-old Mathilda with husband Panio Gianopoulos said she relied on her 'incredible survival' instincts and 'big superego to figure out' ways to protect herself.

Still, she said growing up in the spotlight 'can be harrowing.'

'And I have a 20-year-old daughter now who is going into the same profession, even though I did everything I could to convince her to do something else. And it's hard.'

Earlier this year, Molly claimed that there were certain elements of The Breakfast Club - which follows a group of five teenagers in detention - that 'hadn't aged well' since its 1985 release.

She told The Times: 'There is a lot that I really love about the movie but there are elements that haven't aged well — like Judd Nelson's character, John Bender, who essentially sexually harasses my character. I'm glad we're able to look at that and say things are truly different now.'

In April 2018, in the wake of the #MeToo movement, Ringwald called out her film, Sixteen Candles, for featuring a scene, in which Michael Schoeffling's character, Jake Ryan, toys with the idea of taking advantage of his passed out girlfriend. 

'I've got Caroline in the bedroom right now passed out cold,' he character says. 'I could violate her 10 different ways if I wanted to.' 

While appearing on the WTF with Marc Maron podcast, the actress, 56, insisted that she was 'too young' for Hollywood fame and alleged that any young starlet on the film scene has to deal with having 'predators' around them (pictured in her hit 1985 film The Breakfast Club)

'I never really felt like I was part of a community when I was in Hollywood, just because I was so young, really,' the former teen idol said. 'I wasn't into going out to clubs. I feel like I'm more social now than I was then. I was just too young' (seen in Sixteen Candles)

'If attitudes toward female subjugation are systemic, and I believe that they are, it stands to reason that the art we consume and sanction plays some part in reinforcing those same attitudes,' she wrote. '

She continued: 'I made three movies with John Hughes; when they were released, they made enough of a cultural impact to land me on the cover of Time magazine and to get Hughes hailed as a genius. His critical reputation has only grown since he died, in 2009, at the age of fifty-nine.' 

Despite admitting that there's 'still so much' that she loves about his work, Ringwald said that when one of her daughters suggested watching The Breakfast Club together, she 'hesitated.' 

The actress said she 'worried that she would find aspects of it troubling' but hadn't 'anticipated that it would ultimately be most troubling' to herself. 

This included remembering that they hired an 'adult woman for the shot of' her character 'Claire's underwear.' 

Additionally, the star revealed, that at the time, her mother shut down a 'creepy' joke, in which her character's dad was suppose to ask 'what the hell happened to your underpants?'