Jennifer Lawrence Breaks Silence on Nude Photo Hack: "It Is Not a Scandal. It Is a Sex Crime"

Jennifer Lawrence has spoken out for the first time since nude photos of her were stolen and posted on the Internet without her consent last month. In the interview with Vanity Fair, The Hunger Games star doesn't shy away from the tackling the harrowing incident head-on. "I was just so afraid. I didn't know how this would affect my career," Lawrence recalls.

Following "The Fappening," as Reddit unceremoniously dubbed it, Lawrence admits she was tempted to write a public statement, but "every single thing that I tried to write made me cry or get angry. I started to write an apology, but I don't have anything to say I'm sorry for. I was in a loving, healthy, great relationship for four years. It was long distance, and either your boyfriend is going to look at porn or he's going to look at you.

"Just because I'm a public figure, just because I'm an actress, does not mean that I asked for this," Lawrence continues, referring to the victim-blaming that occurred in the wake of the leak, some of which came from fellow celebrities such as Ricky Gervais and Clay Aiken. "It does not mean that it comes with the territory. It's my body, and it should be my choice, and the fact that it is not my choice is absolutely disgusting. I can't believe that we even live in that kind of world.

FBI investigating nude celebrity photo leak

"It is not a scandal. It is a sex crime," Lawrence declares. "It is a sexual violation. It's disgusting. The law needs to be changed, and we need to change. That's why these websites are responsible. Just the fact that somebody can be sexually exploited and violated, and the first thought that crosses somebody's mind is to make a profit from it. It's so beyond me. I just can't imagine being that detached from humanity. I can't imagine being that thoughtless and careless and so empty inside."

The FBI is currently investigating the case, but Lawrence thinks the offenders of the crime aren't only the ones who stole and posted the photos, but the ones who looked at them as well. "Anybody who looked at those pictures, you're perpetuating a sexual offense. You should cower with shame. Even people who I know and love say, 'Oh, yeah, I looked at the pictures.' I don't want to get mad, but at the same time I'm thinking, 'I didn't tell you that you could look at my naked body,'" Lawrence explains.

The actress went on the recall the moment she had to call her father to inform him what had happened. "I don't care how much money I get for The Hunger Games," she says. "I promise you, anybody given the choice of that kind of money or having to make a phone call to tell your dad that something like that has happened, it's not worth it. ... Fortunately, he was playing golf, so he was in a good mood."

In the weeks since the massive hack, Lawrence has focused simply on moving forward. "Time does heal, you know," she says.  "I'm not crying about it anymore. I can't be angry anymore. I can't have my happiness rest on these people being caught, because they might not be. I need to just find my own peace."

What do you think of Lawrence's comments?