Blac Chyna addresses 'backlash' for role in film about pro-life activist

Model and actress Blac Chyna, who now goes by her birth name, Angela White, is starring in a new film about the life of a pro-life activist and spoke about the "backlash" she has been facing.

Key Takeaways:

• Angela White stars as Bevelyn Beatty Williams in the film "Pardon Me."

• White said the role was "controversial" and said she has received "backlash" for it.

• In 2022, Williams was arrested for a 2020 protest outside a Planned Parenthood. She was convicted of violating the FACE Act.

• Williams was pardoned by President Trump on January 23. 2025.

The Details:

In the new biographical film "Pardon Me," White plays pro-life activist Bevelyn Beatty Williams, who spent time in prison for violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act when she took part in a pro-life protest outside Planned Parenthood in New York City in 2020.

Williams was ultimately pardoned by President Donald Trump just days after he took office in January 2025, and Williams' story of unjust imprisonment was turned into the film, which was released this spring.

"The decision for me to play this role was easy," White told PEOPLE. "I knew that it would probably stir up a few things because of the message and what she stands for and that's exactly why I did it."

She called the role "controversial" and said she has received "backlash" for it.

"I have my own personal beliefs and whatnot," she said. "I'm not going to get into it, but I feel like with any actress, you have to put all that aside. ... I have gotten a little backlash from it, but it's nothing I can't handle."

The Backstory:

Williams and her fellow pro-life activist Edmee Chavannes were protesting outside Planned Parenthood in Manhattan on June 19 and 20, 2020, while livestreaming on Facebook. They were reportedly loud but nonviolent when a Planned Parenthood staffer attempted to open the door from the inside and hit Williams with it. Without looking behind her, Williams said she instinctively pushed back on the door, unknowingly pinning the worker's hand. The worker never attempted to ask Williams to move and never asked the NYPD officers present that day to have Williams move.

The officers did not arrest Williams or Chavannes that day and did not determine that an assault had been carried out. In addition, the injured worker did not seek immediate medical attention. Williams was not even investigated for the matter for more than two years — not until after Roe v. Wade had fallen.

Before Dobbs, “Nobody from the U.S. attorney’s office does anything. Nobody thinks it’s worth their time,” said attorney Aaron Mysliwiec. "Then after Dobbs, one could argue, the district wanted a case to prosecute under FACE and went two years into the past. It begs the question: If this was such a serious incident, why didn’t they investigate in the weeks after it happened?”

He added, "The key fact that changes their determination is what the Supreme Court Justices did, which should not be the reason to go and prosecute Bev Williams.”

In December 2022, Williams, who has undergone abortions in the past, was officially charged by the Biden-Harris DOJ with conspiracy to violate the FACE Act and violating the FACE Act through force, threats of force, and physical obstruction, resulting in bodily harm. She was convicted of the second charge and was sentenced to 41 months — more than three years — in prison.

Williams' case made national headlines as the judge denied her request to remain home on bail while she appealed the decision. However, she was ultimately pardoned by President Trump on January 23, 2025.

Pro-Life Political Prisoner | Exclusive Interview w/ Bevelyn Williams

The Bottom Line:

Williams wasn't alone in being investigated on FACE Act charges years after the original instances of pro-life activism. The Biden-Harris administration began ramping up persecution and prosecution of pro-lifers just before the fall of Roe and thereafter, and even misused a law created to prosecute the Ku Klux Klan — a law penalizing "conspiracy against rights" — to increase the peaceful defendants' prison sentences.

The stories of these individuals, including that of Bevelyn Williams, deserve to be told.