Audra McDonald is speaking out about boundaries between fans and performers after someone followed her all the way home after a recent Broadway performance.
The Tony-winning actress, who is the most awarded actor in Broadway history, just wrapped her run in the Broadway revival of Gypsy. While many Broadway actors will greet fans at the stage door following a performance, Audra says she decided not to meet people after Gypsy to preserve her health and stamina amid the grueling job.
On Friday night (August 15), Audra says a fan “snuck around and found me the way I had exited from the theater and followed me all the way to where I was staying, came into the building, and was uncomfortably close.”
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Audra had to get security involved.
“When I finally got some security to help me, [the fan’s] response was, ‘Well, hey, I’ve come all the way,’ and they named some town, some city that they’ve come all the way from … and felt that they deserve an autograph. And that’s crossing a big boundary. I just want to call that out. That’s a big no-no, that’s immediately messing with my safety – and it’s not right,” she said.
Audra added, “When you see an actor leave the stage door, if they don’t stop, leave it alone. There is a reason that they’re not stopping, and it has nothing to do with you. It’s them protecting their space and peace, whatever that may be. And if they do stop, or wave, or take a picture with you, or sign an autograph, great! But please respect proper boundaries.”
Learn all about the season four cast of Audra‘s HBO series The Gilded Age.
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