Alanis Morissette refused to attend the world premiere Tuesday night of the new documentary “Jagged,” which explores the making of her breakthrough 1995 mega-hit album “Jagged Little Pill,” citing that "this was not the story I agreed to tell."
Director Alison Klayman’s movie, which bowed at the Toronto Film Festival and airs Nov. 19 on HBO and HBO Max, also recounts Morissette's early years in the music industry. In the film, the singer alleges being a victim of sexual misconduct when she was a 15-year-old pop star.
In a statement to USA TODAY, Morissette says she's "chosen not to attend any event around this movie" because she's currently on a world tour but also, "not unlike many 'stories' and unauthorized biographies out there over the years, ('Jagged') includes implications and facts that are simply not true. While there is beauty and some elements of accuracy in this/my story to be sure – I ultimately won’t be supporting someone else’s reductive take on a story much too nuanced for them to ever grasp or tell.”
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Morissette says she "agreed to participate" in a film celebrating the 25th anniversary of "Jagged Little Pill" and was interviewed by Klayman during "a very vulnerable time" while in the midst of what she says was a third postpartum depression during lockdown.
"I was lulled into a false sense of security and their salacious agenda became apparent immediately upon my seeing the first cut of the film," Morissette explains in her statement. "This is when I knew our visions were in fact painfully diverged. This was not the story I agreed to tell. I sit here now experiencing the full impact of having trusted someone who did not warrant being trusted."
USA TODAY has reached out to the film's producers and HBO for comment.
In "Jagged," Morissette talks about the sexual misconduct she says that happened when she was a teenager, and how it took "years in therapy to even admit that there had been any victimization on my part. I would always say, ‘You know, I was consenting…’ and then I’d be reminded like, 'Hey, you were 15, You’re not consenting at 15.' Now I’m like, ‘Oh yeah, they’re all pedophiles. They’re all statutory rape.’ ”
And also in the film, Morissette added that she told “a few people” about the incidents but “it kind of fell on deaf ears a little bit. It would usually be a stand-up, walk-out-of-the room’ moment.”
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Morissette says in the film that she didn’t share “specific information” about her experience as a teenager in order to protect her family, herself and “future partners.”
“A lot of people say, ‘Why did that woman wait 30 years?’ I’m like, (expletive) off, they didn’t wait 30 years,” Morissette says. “No one was listening or their livelihood was threatened or their family was threatened. So yeah, the whole ‘why do women wait’ thing? Women don’t wait – a culture doesn’t listen.”
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