Octavia Butler Reveals She Experienced More Racism In LA Than In Her Hometown Of Alabama

In the ’90s, Octavia Butler moved from her hometown to Los Angeles. Settling in Rodeo Drive at the time, the actress said she experienced an intense level of racism that was “right out of Pretty Woman”.

Octavia Butler – On How History Can Play A Role In Racism

Growing up in her southern hometown of Montgomery, Alabama, Octavia Spencer was awed by the amount of racism she witnessed when she moved to Los Angeles.

During a recent appearance on an episode of WTF with Marc Maron podcast released last week, the star touched on her experiences growing up and moving to Los Angeles.

“I think everywhere is heavy. Everywhere has its history,” explained the Oscar winner, 52. “I think everywhere has problems.”

She continued: “You can’t deny that Southern history is intense. It is. But what’s beautiful for me is that stuff preceded me. I was a child of the ’70s … As you grow older and the things that you can remember, that wasn’t a part of my history. I learned about it. It’s not anything that I experienced.”

“It is so funny. It’s right out of Pretty Woman,” she said. “One of the first things that you do when you move to [L.A.], or at least that I did, is you wanna go to those historical places … all of those landmark places.”

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“I remember going into a shop and being followed. At first … I was just like so excited, like just walking around, and then I realized that I was being followed. It was just kind of strange in that way,” the “Truth Be Told” star added.

Spencer then recalled the “funny thing” in the whole experience, saying that after getting over the shock of it, she realized just how “glaringly obvious” it is. Luckily, she hasn’t experienced anything on that level again.

Spencer said she has “a home there now” in Alabama, where she spends “weeks at a time,” as it helps her “spend quality time with family.”

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