"I actually learned this from Elizabeth Olsen," Holland said in a cover story for GQ's Men of the Year issue released on Wednesday. "She gave me an amazing piece of advice: 'No' is a full sentence. 'No' is enough."
In his interview, Holland admitted that he's "an impossible people pleaser" who will do whatever he can for people to like him. This manifests in him going above in his work life, to the point of burnout and an incident in which he threw up after a press conference.
"I was under a lot of pressure to finish the day's work," he recalled. "That was the first time I was really like, 'No, I'm done now. I've given you everything.'"
Since then, Holland has continued to stand up for himself over time.
In his GQ interview, Holland said that while filming the same movie, he told director Jon Watts that a scene was "wrong," which resulted in them rewriting the scene and improving it.
Olsen, who's known for her role as Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch in the MCU, has said that she learned the aforementioned advice from her twin sisters, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, and liked applying it to "all aspects of life."
"The word 'No' specifically was something that I remember my sisters isolating and it becoming really empowering," the actress told Glamour during an interview for their digital UK issue. "And for women, it's a really empowering word. People say 'Just say no to drugs', but truly, you can just say no whenever the hell you want! It's really a powerful thing."
"I always felt like I could say 'No' in any work situation – if someone was making me feel uncomfortable – and I just feel like that's what we need," she added. "We don't have to follow suit if it doesn't feel right. We need to be listening to our gut. There was a time where women were competing with one another and now we're at a time where women are holding each other up."
Advertisement
{{}}
NewsletterSIMPLY PUT - where we join the dots to inform and inspire you. Sign up for a weekly brief collating many news items into one untangled thought delivered straight to your mailbox.
'The Great' star Elle Fanning watched a video of her mom giving birth to her sister Dakota Fanning while preparing for a childbearing scene on season 2
Tom Holland says he and Zendaya 'felt robbed of our privacy' after paparazzi photos of them kissing went viral
Iman says she still 'feels married' years after her husband David Bowie's death