Breaking Bad Actress: Scary How Much People Hate Me

Anna Gunn: Some fans apparently can't take strong female characters
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 24, 2013 10:28 AM CDT
Breaking Bad Actress: Scary How Much People Hate Me
This image released by AMC shows Anna Gunn as Skyler White in a scene from "Breaking Bad."   (AP Photo/AMC, Ursula Coyote)

Actress Anna Gunn knew from the start that her character of Skyler White on Breaking Bad wasn't going to be as popular as Skyler's meth-making husband, Walter White. But she had no idea that people would loathe her character so much that it would result in real-life death threats. Gunn writes in the New York Times today of her bewilderment as she delved into the flourishing "I Hate Skyler White" world online. (Don't worry, the essay is free of any spoilers.)

Skyler seemingly "has become a flash point for many people’s feelings about strong, nonsubmissive, ill-treated women," writes Gunn. Maybe "they despise her because she won’t back down or give up? Or because she is, in fact, Walter’s equal?" As an actress, Gunn loves the strong role. As a human, she's not thrilled with the hatred. Still, "in the end, I’m glad that this discussion has happened, that it has taken place in public and that it has illuminated some of the dark and murky corners that we often ignore or pretend aren’t still there in our everyday lives." Click to read her full column. (More Anna Gunn stories.)

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