Latest news with #Brockovich
Sky News
12-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Sky News
Erin Brockovich: 'My chiropractor saw mud on my stiletto - I said, I've been collecting dead frogs'
Erin Brockovich says a chance conversation about a muddy stiletto with her chiropractor led to the making of the award-winning film about her life. The climate activist, who was played by Julia Roberts in the movie, told Sky News: "My girlfriend, who was a chiropractor, was giving me a chiropractic adjustment and asked me why I had mud on my stilettos. "I said, 'Oh, I've been collecting dead frogs'. She goes, 'What is wrong with you?' So, I started telling her what I was doing." Then just a junior paralegal, Brockovich was in fact pulling together evidence that would see her emerge victorious from one of the largest cases of water contamination in US history in Hinkley, California. Her hard work would see her win a record settlement from Pacific Gas & Electric Company - $333m (£254m) - but that was all still to come. Little did Brockovich know, but her tale of a muddy stiletto would get back to actor Danny DeVito and his Jersey Films producing partner Michael Schamburg, and through them to the film's director Steven Soderbergh. Brockovich says Soderbergh was "wowed" by what he heard. She says he realised her image "was something that Hollywood might be drawn to that I was never thinking of - the short skirt, the attitude, the big bust, the stilettos, the backcombed hair. Somehow, it came together." 'I was always going to be misunderstood' Released in 2000, the powerful story of one woman's fight for justice made Brockovich a household name, and the film won actress Julia Roberts an Oscar. Now, 25 years on, Brockovich says she believes her legal victory was helped in part by an unlikely ally - her learning difficulty. Brockovich says: "Had I not been dyslexic, I might have missed Hinkley." Recently named a global ambassador for charity Made By Dyslexia, she's been aware of her learning differences since childhood and still struggles today. She says "moments of low self-esteem" still "creep back in", and she long ago accepted "I was always going to be misunderstood". But for Brockovich, recognising her dyslexic strengths while working in Hinkley proved a pivotal moment: "My observations are wickedly keen. I feel like a human radar some days… Things you might not see as a pattern, I recognise. There are things that intuitively, I absolutely know. "It will take me some time in my visual patterns of what I'm seeing, how to organise that. And it was in Hinkley that that moment happened for me because it was so omnipresent [and] in my face. Everything that should have been normal was not." 'A huge perfect storm' Brockovich paints a bleak picture of what she saw in the small town: "The trees were secreting poison, the cows were covered in tumours, the chickens had wry neck [a neurological condition that causes the head to tilt abnormally], the people were sick and unbeknown to them, I knew they were all having the exact same health patterns. To the green water, to the two-headed frog, all of that was just I was like on fire, like electricity going, 'Oh my gosh, what's going on out here?'" She describes it as "a huge, perfect storm that came together for me in Hinkley". But a side effect of the movie - overnight global fame - wasn't always easy to deal with. Brockovich calls it "scary," admitting, "when the film first came out the night of the premiere, I was literally shaking so bad, I was so overwhelmed, that Universal Studios said, 'If we can't get you to calm down, I think we need to take you home'. It was a lot". Brockovich says she kept grounded by staying focused on her work, her family and her three children. With Hollywood not always renowned for its faithful adherence to fact, Brockovich says the film didn't whitewash the facts. "I think they really did a good job at pointing out our environmental issues. Hollywood can do that, they can tell a good story. And I'm glad it was not about fluff and glamour. I'm glad it was about a subject that oftentimes we don't want to talk about. Water pollution, environmental damage. People being poisoned." 'Defend ourselves against environmental assaults' While environmental awareness is now part of the daily conversation in a way it wasn't a quarter of a century ago, the battle to protect the climate is far from over. Just last month, Donald Trump laid out plans to slash over 30 climate and environmental regulations as part of an ongoing effort to boost US industries from coal to manufacturing and ramp up oil and minerals production. In response, Brockovich says, "We're not going to stop it, but we can defend against these environmental assaults. "We can do better with infrastructure. We can do better on a lot of policy-making. I think there's a moment here. We have to do that because the old coming into the new isn't working. "I've recognised the patterns for 30-plus years, we just keep doing the same thing over and over and over and over again, expecting a different result. "For me, sometimes it's like, 'Oh my gosh, just get your ego out of the way'. We have to accept that this might be something greater than us, but we can certainly defend ourselves and protect ourselves and prepare ourselves better so we can get through that storm." You can listen to Brockovich speaking about her dyslexia with Made By Dyslexia founder Kate Griggs on the first episode of the new season of the podcast Lessons In Dyslexic Thinking, wherever you get your podcasts.
Yahoo
28-01-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Erin Brockovich Says Moms Will Save LA From Future Wildfire Blunders: ‘F—k With Their Kids, Those Instincts Kick In'
Erin Brockovich is confident it will be the savvy instincts of mothers that will save Los Angeles from future wildfire mismanagement. While speaking with Marc Maron on his podcast 'WTF With Marc Maron' in an episode published Monday, Brockovich, the environmental activist and paralegal who was portrayed by Julia Roberts in the Oscar-winning film about her, explained that, when it comes to impacted communities angered by what many perceive as infrastructural shortcomings and a failure in preparedness, they should not be underestimated. 'These communities are really savvy,' Brockovich said. 'Now, you burned their home to the ground. They are devastated but they are thankful to be alive. They are critical thinkers, they have instincts, and I will tell you one thing I know absolutely positively certain: do not underestimate these people and never ever underestimate a pissed off mom.' She continued: 'They will do exactly what I saw and learned. They use their power of observation – they have a very keen intuition – and they will start organizing and working with their neighbors. They already know what my mom taught me and that is the power of stick-to-it-ivness.' Maron followed up asking Brockovich if it was specifically moms who jumpstart these things in communities. She responded emphatically, 'Every time.' 'Every single time I have been involved, it starts with the moms,' Brockovich added. 'F–k with their kids, f–k with their home, those instincts kick in. They know it is real, it is real … They will organize, they will fight.' Brockovich made her name in the '90s working with attorney Ed Masry on a case against Pacific Gas & Electric Company regarding contaminated groundwater in Hinkley, California. The case was the basis for the 'Erin Brockovich' film that starred Roberts and Albert Finney as Masry. Listen to Brockovich's full 'WTF' episode here. The post Erin Brockovich Says Moms Will Save LA From Future Wildfire Blunders: 'F—k With Their Kids, Those Instincts Kick In' appeared first on TheWrap.
