Harvey Weinstein: 'Beautiful Girls' Scribe Scott Rosenberg

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Melissa Sagemiller Describes 3 Lewd Advances Made By Harvey Weinstein: The self-described “last tycoon” allegedly tried to coax the then-24-year-old into his hotel room and later stole her bags from an airport.
by Matthew Jacobs
Huffpost
10/13/2017 10:15 am ET Updated Oct 13, 2017

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Over two dozen women have come forward with accounts of Harvey Weinstein’s sexual misconduct, yielding a clearer sense of the abuse allegedly inflicted by the once-powerful movie producer.

Actress Melissa Sagemiller has now told HuffPost that she experienced Weinstein’s behavior firsthand in the summer of 2000, when she filmed “Get Over It.”

It was Sagemiller’s second movie, a contemporary teen comedy based on “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” following the thriller “Soul Survivors.” The production, in her own words, was “star-studded.” Her colleagues included Kirsten Dunst, Ben Foster, Sisqó, Zoe Saldana, Mila Kunis, Shane West, Colin Hanks, Martin Short, Ed Begley Jr., Swoosie Kurtz and Carmen Electra.

Miramax, the studio that Weinstein managed at the time, distributed the film, which meant Weinstein floated around the set throughout the two-month shoot. Sagemiller said that Weinstein, who was then married to his onetime assistant, made three separate advances toward her, all uninvited. The first incident allegedly occurred during a lunch meeting arranged by Weinstein’s assistant. At a later date, Sagemiller said he attempted to coax her into his hotel room, supposedly to “discuss the script.” She also described an episode after the movie wrapped, in which Weinstein ordered airport personnel to deliver her to his private plane, despite her protests and separately scheduled flight.

At the time, Sagemiller wasn’t completely silent about the ordeal, though she was encouraged not to formally speak out. (She suspects Weinstein left Dunst and Kunis alone because they were underage at the time.)

“I was definitely talking about it when we would go out with the cast because I was trying to warn the other girls, and I was trying to be tough about it and make a joke about it,” she said. “I will definitely say that the whole atmosphere with my agents there at the time, and with everyone in the business, including his producing partner, who was a woman, was like, ‘Don’t cause any trouble. Don’t say anything. You’re not going to be that girl because it will definitely hurt your career. This is Harvey. Harvey’s Harvey. Just don’t pay attention to him, ignore it, just move on.’ I was never told, ‘Are you OK? Do you want to say anything? Do you want to report this?’ Nothing like that. It was just, ‘That’s Harvey.’”

Weinstein’s licentious activity has been extensively covered over the past week. After The New York Times and The New Yorker published separate investigations into the years-long allegations lodged against the mogul, actresses like Cara Delevingne and Kate Beckinsale have told their own stories via social media.

Below is Sagemiller’s account of Weinstein’s behavior as it progressed throughout filming. She spoke to us by phone on Thursday; we have edited and condensed her quotes slightly to ensure clarity.

“I just think it’s so widespread,” the actress said. “It’s crazy. And it’s not just Harvey. It’s so many people in the industry. You start talking, and then another actress will go, ‘Oh yeah, I had that happen to me.’ I think this is a very important, interesting time.”


JESSE GRANT VIA GETTY IMAGES

1. The lunch

At the time, I was 24. We were shooting in Toronto, and I think right after shooting started, I was called by one of his assistants — a woman, as always — saying, “Harvey wants to have lunch with you” [...] which I was actually even sort of excited about. I thought, “Oh, wow, the head of Miramax wants to take me to lunch ― great!” It was my second big film that I was doing. No one really warned me that much. They might have said, “Oh, he’s a little frisky,” but no one warned me the extent of what I was about to encounter.

So I go to lunch. I will say I was prepped in that I’d heard he likes his leading ladies — that’s sort of the extent. It obviously gives you a little something, like, “OK, I know what I’m walking into.”

The lunch was fine, although he was pretty inappropriate in terms of just being very flirty and asking me what I like to do and what kind of guys I like to date. It did become personal. Then he took me to a bookstore and proceeded to ask me, did I like literature? I was an English major at the University of Virginia. “Great, I’m going to buy you every Fitzgerald book in the bookstore, and I’m going to sign it to you, especially ‘The Last Tycoon’ because I am the last tycoon, and I’m actually about to produce the film, and it’s all about me, and you’re an English major — you’re so smart.”

I’m a city girl — I know how to handle myself. I’m tough. I was like, “OK, Harvey.” I gave him a lot of shit. I was always quick with a response, and I was quick to deflect because I figured out really quickly what kind of guy I thought he was.

2. The hotel room

The next incident that happened was further into the production. I was called by another assistant of his asking me to go to his hotel room. It’s like the Ashley Judd situation. He wanted to discuss the script. I was like, “I really don’t feel comfortable with this. Can we meet on the set tomorrow? In my trailer? Whatever. I just don’t really understand why I have to go to his room.” I was told, “It’s not going to be a long meeting.”

This is the horror of it all: You have another woman orchestrating this, knowing full well what is going to happen.

So then the assistant said, “The script has all these changes that he needs to discuss with you. It’s very important.” I remember talking to my boyfriend at the time on the phone, being like, “I can’t believe I have to do this. I don’t want to do this. I don’t have a good feeling about this, and I know what’s going to happen.” I was trying to be tough about it.

Anyway, I went to his room. Immediately he had drinks. The script was on the kitchen counter. He was in his robe. He’s like, “Would you give me a massage?” The whole thing. I said, “Harvey, I’m here to discuss the script. I’m not going to give you a massage or any of that.” And the banter went back and forth. He’s like, “I love you. You’re so fiery, you’re so smart. No one can give you shit, Sagemiller.” I’m like, “Exactly right.” But he just wouldn’t stop. I said, “I’m going to have to leave — we were supposed to discuss the script.” I just remember him saying, “Ah, I have to take a shower; I just went to the gym.” I don’t even know. It was so gross.

He said, “Well, you’re not going to leave until you kiss me.” I remember that’s when it turned from “Oh, ha ha, I can handle this guy” to “Well, OK, he’s blocking the door, sort of” — he’d walked over and put his hand on the door. It was just one of those things where I was like, “Really?” He just wouldn’t stop. It was relentless. And then he said, “Well, Renée did it and Charlize did it and this other actress did it. Don’t you want your career to be more than just this little teen film?” I said, “No, I’m not interested, thank you very much.” He said, “Well, you can’t leave until you kiss me.” He literally would not let me leave. I said fine and kissed him on the lips. He sort of held my head and made me kiss him, and then he’s like, “OK, you can go now. That’s all I wanted. Just do what I say and you can get your way.”

He finally opened the door so I could leave. I remember sitting in that elevator. He was so disgusting. He was taking Accutane at the time, and his skin was peeling all over this face. His lips were peeling. He was like Jabba the Hutt. He was like a lizard that was molting. It was so disgusting. […] I know that women have had much worse.

3. The airplane

Cut to the wrap party. He’d already gotten some other girl that he had given this small number of lines to and was apparently sleeping with, according to the rumor mill on the movie. So he started to leave me alone and not pursue me as much, until the wrap party comes around.

I had to come over and say, “Thank you for the movie.” He said, “Well, you’re coming back on my plane.” I said, “Harvey, I’m totally cool. I’ve got my own flight. Thank you so much for the offer, but I’m good. I’m good.” He’s like, “No, no, no, you’re taking my plane. It’s fine, I’ll arrange it. It’s all arranged. It’s arranged already.”

So then I ran out the door of the party and called my agent at the time. I said, “Do not take me off the flight I’m on. No matter who calls, do not cancel this flight that I have. It’s my separate flight from Toronto.”

The party ended and I went back to the hotel. I woke up and left the hotel an hour earlier than I was supposed to. My flight was at, like, 10 a.m., and I left the hotel at 7:30 a.m. That way, I wouldn’t see his assistant, I wouldn’t see Harvey, I wouldn’t see anyone.

I checked my bag, I went through security — this is pre-9/11, mind you — and I’m waiting to board at the gate of the flight when, all of a sudden, over the loudspeaker, I hear, “Melissa Sagemiller, please report to the security desk immediately. Melissa Sagemiller, please pick up the white phone at the security desk immediately.”

So I’m like, “Wait, what? Did someone have a heart attack?” You’re just thinking about all of these horrible scenarios. I run to the security desk down the hall, and it’s his assistant again. “Melissa? We’ve gotten your bags off the plane. The car is out front. Get in the car.” It was just so incredible. I started laughing. I said, “What are you talking about? You got my bags?” She’s like, “Yes, Harvey’s insistent. Please get in the car. Just please get in the car.”

They’d kidnapped my bags at this point, so I was just like, “Fine, you win, motherfucker.” So I left the airport, went out to the top level where the car was, got in the car. They raced me to the private-plane runway where there were other actors on the plane. Sisqó was on it, and Shane West was on it. Thank God. If I had walked in there and it was just him, I don’t know. I would have had to run away because that’s horrendous. I think I even asked at the time, “Are there other people on this plane? I’m not going alone.” [The assistant] said, “There are other actors on this plane.”

So I get on the plane, I walk up and I go, “Harvey, you motherfucker.” He’s just sitting there. He pats his hand on the seat next to him, and he’s like, “See, Melissa, you can’t say no to me. I always get what I want.” He wanted me on this plane, and he wanted me somewhere where I couldn’t go anywhere. And he just wanted to eff with me. He just wanted to fuck with my head. [...]

It was a short flight, from Toronto to New York. Shane and I were talking; we were friendly, and I stuck by him. I’m sure I had told him Harvey’s stories. [...]

I don’t think I’ve interacted with [Harvey] that much because none of the other movies I did were Miramax. […] And then I crossed over and did mostly television, so I didn’t have to see him. [...]

If my manager called me tomorrow and said, “Actually, I remember there was this movie you were up for, and now that I’m thinking back on it, maybe [rebuffing Weinstein is] why you didn’t get it,” I wouldn’t be surprised at all.

Representatives for Renée Zellweger and Charlize Theron did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s requests for comment.

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Weinstein Exposes the Hatred of Women in Hollywood
by Katrina Trinko
Newsweek
10/13/17 AT 11:19 AM

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This article first appeared on the Daily Signal.

The Deep Gender Divide in Hollywood -- Illustrated Screenplay
Produced by: Jordan Saville
Written by: Holly Snelling
[Transcribed from the video by Tara Carreon]

Five years ago at the Democratic National Convention, I went to a Planned Parenthood rally, where one speaker was TV actress Lisa Edelstein.

“Do not go to the polls alone,” she told us. “Drag somebody, if she’s a woman especially, because those women are going to vote for Obama—if they know what’s good for them.”

Edelstein is hardly the only Hollywood figure to make the case that liberal policies are crucial to women’s happiness and welfare. Yet, with the media still reeling from the revelations about powerful Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein’s behavior toward women, it’s time to examine both the people promoting that worldview—and the worldview itself.

The Edelstein episode stayed with me because, as an avid fan of “House,” I was especially devastated to see the actress who had played the tough, smart Dr. Lisa Cuddy promote the nation’s largest abortion provider, Planned Parenthood.

That organization is now fighting in Ohio against a law banning abortions done on the basis of gender. In other words, the oh-so-feminist Planned Parenthood is OK with the termination of pregnancy just because the child is a girl.

Yet Edelstein is far from alone in her support from Planned Parenthood. At the Academy Awards this year, actresses Emma Stone (who would win “Best Actress” that night) and Dakota Johnson both displayed Planned Parenthood pins. “I stand with Planned Parenthood because Planned Parenthood stands up for me,” said Scarlett Johansson in a 2015 video.


Harvey Weinstein and Heidi Klum (back, eft) and actress Uma Thurman (front, left) attend a 2014 Golden Globes After Party at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 12, 2014 in Beverly Hills, California.
ARAYA DIAZ/GETTY

And the list of Planned Parenthood celebrity supporters goes on and on, including Kerry Washington, Nick Offerman, Alan Cumming, Ashley Judd, Mark Ruffalo, Chrissy Teigen, John Legend, Stanley Tucci, and Neil Patrick Harris, according to Newsbusters. Weinstein himself pledged $100,000 to Planned Parenthood in May, although the organization says he never delivered on the promise.

And that’s just Planned Parenthood. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama both racked up considerable celebrity endorsements in their presidential races, compared to virtually none for Donald Trump and Mitt Romney.

In a speech at the 2016 Democratic National Convention, actress Lena Dunham stressed how Clinton would help women, saying: “Do you want equal pay for equal work? The right to make decisions about your body? Paid family leave?”

So shouldn’t Hollywood be a liberal utopia?

Yet the revelations about Weinstein’s behavior suggest Hollywood is not, in fact, a good place to be a woman.

Writing for The New Yorker, Ronan Farrow—who was raised by Woody Allen, who continues to be tolerated by Hollywood after marrying his stepdaughter and being accused of child molestation by another daughter— spoke to 13 women who accused Weinstein of behavior ranging from sexual harassment to rape. Here are some of their accusations:

— “He forced me to perform oral sex on him … I said, over and over, ‘I don’t want to do this, stop, don’t,’” recounted Lucia Evans, at the time an aspiring actress. “He’s a big guy. He overpowered me.”

— Weinstein “lunged at her, groping her breasts and attempting to put a hand up her skirt while she protested,” wrote Farrow of beauty pageant contestant Ambra Battilana Gutierrez, recounting her report to the police after the incident.

— An unnamed woman who worked with the producer “said that Weinstein brought her to a hotel room under a professional pretext, changed into a bathrobe, and ‘forced himself on me sexually.’ She said no, repeatedly and clearly,” wrote Farrow.

And more and more stories have come out about Weinstein, with actresses such as Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie speaking out about his treatment of them.

Yet Weinstein is hardly a total outlier in Hollywood. After issuing a statement about Weinstein, actor Ben Affleck was accused of grabbing actress Hilarie Burton’s breast on MTV in 2003. He tweeted an apology.

Joss Whedon, the producer and writer behind TV shows including “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Angel” and writer-director of the blockbuster “Avengers” movies, came under fire from his ex-wife Kai Cole, who penned a damning essay about his affairs during their marriage in The Wrap this August. Cole wrote:

Despite understanding, on some level, that what he was doing was wrong, he never conceded the hypocrisy of being out in the world preaching feminist ideals, while at the same time, taking away my right to make choices for my life and my body based on the truth. He deceived me for 15 years, so he could have everything he wanted.

I believed, everyone believed, that he was one of the good guys, committed to fighting for women’s rights, committed to our marriage, and to the women he worked with. But I now see how he used his relationship with me as a shield, both during and after our marriage, so no one would question his relationships with other women or scrutinize his writing as anything other than feminist.

Whedon did respond to Cole’s essay with this statement to The Wrap: “While this account includes inaccuracies and misrepresentations which can be harmful to their family, Joss is not commenting, out of concern for his children and out of respect for his ex-wife.”

And let’s not forget Roman Polanski, who remains a Hollywood darling, despite his inability to come back to the United States—because he has refused to serve jail time for drugging and raping a 13-year-old girl in 1977.

Besides facing groping, assault, and rape, Hollywood women have the right to be upset about other matters, too. Despite being a land allegedly crammed with feminists, it’s common for female actresses to receive less pay than their male co-stars. And the number of female directors and producers remains small.

I’ll let The New York Times film critic Manohla Dargis take it from here:

Women helped build the industry, but it has long been a male-dominated enterprise that systematically treats women—as a class—as inferior to men.

It is an industry with a history of sexually exploiting younger female performers and stamping expiration dates on older ones. It is an industry that consistently denies female directors employment and contemptuously treats the female audience as a niche, a problem, an afterthought.

And let’s also not forget that Weinstein’s disgusting behavior seemed to be well known in Hollywood—yet no one, with a thought to future victims, blew the whistle.

In 2013, Seth MacFarlane made a pointed joke at the televised Academy Awards ceremony about Weinstein, telling Best Supporting Actress nominees, “Congratulations, you five ladies no longer have to pretend to be attracted to Harvey Weinstein.” Based on the nervous laughter of the audience, it appears there wasn’t confusion at the allusion—but it would be four more years before the story broke.

How is this supporting women?

It is easy to call Hollywood elites and liberal politicians hypocrites. It is frankly astonishing that Hillary Clinton, who tweeted in 2015 that “Every survivor of sexual assault deserves to be heard, believed, and supported” (a claim that did not seem to extend to her husband’s alleged victims), took five days to denounce Weinstein. As top White House aide Kellyanne Conway tweeted, Clinton isn’t always so slow to react.

Likewise, the Obamas took five days to issue a statement.

The common factor may have been the amount of money given to their campaigns, thanks to Weinstein. According to Politico, Weinstein’s efforts resulted in $1.4 million for Clinton’s 2016 campaign and $600,000 for Obama’s 2012 campaign. Not to be cynical, but: I think we have a motive for delay.

Now that Democrats and Hollywooders have realized there’s going to be no comeback for Weinstein, that there’s too many accusations of horrible things, they are quickly changing course.

Weinstein has been fired from his company. The Democratic National Committee, which has received $300,000 from Weinstein over the years, is donating $30,000 to charities including EMILY’s List, which seeks to elect pro-abortion female politicians.

Which brings me back to my point: Perhaps Weinstein isn’t a hypocrite, but rather the fulfillment of the real values that undergird Hollywood. Maybe the abortion obsession shared by Democrats and celebrities isn’t about giving women futures, but about giving men the guarantee to have consequence-free sex, even if the condom breaks or the birth control fails.

Sure, it’s often actresses, not actors, supporting Planned Parenthood—but if we’ve learned anything from the Weinstein saga, it’s that actresses often feel compelled or pressured to do certain things in order to have a successful career.

Again: Let’s look at Hollywood’s behavior, not what it says. It’s a place where young women are cherished and older women have to desperately fight for good roles. It’s a place where men get paid more, and where men more often are the leaders. It’s a place where somehow Weinstein was allowed to sexually harass and assault women for decades, and a place where a rapist like Polanski and a man who married his adopted daughter, like Allen, can remain lionized.

Sarah Palin isn’t controlling Hollywood. Nor is George W. Bush, or Donald Trump, or Michele Bachmann, or Mike Pence, or any other conservative figure the left slams. There’s no vast right-wing conspiracy here, no outside forces upsetting the liberal utopia that is Hollywood.

No, this is the world Hollywood has made for itself—and it’s a really ugly place, particularly if you’re a woman. Perhaps, as Whedon is accused of doing by his ex-wife, Hollywood men have just realized it’s easier to get away with bad behavior toward women if you say you embrace feminism.

It’s great that Weinstein is finally facing accountability. But it’s just not him who should; it’s the values of the entire system that kept him safe in a liberal cocoon for so long.

To steal Edelstein’s phrase, if women “know what’s good for them,” they should take a long, hard look at Hollywood’s liberal values—and see if they make a better world for women, or instead make it easier for men to act like out-of-control frat boys.

Katrina Trinko is managing editor of The Daily Signal and a member of USA Today's Board of Contributors.

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Six women accuse filmmaker Brett Ratner of sexual harassment or misconduct
by Amy Kaufman and Daniel Miller
Nov. 1, 2017

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Director Brett Ratner (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Natasha Henstridge was watching a movie on Brett Ratner’s couch when she fell asleep. She was a 19-year-old fashion model; he was an up-and-coming music video director in his early 20s. They had been hanging out in front of the TV with friends at his New York apartment.

But when Henstridge woke up, the others had left. She was alone with Ratner. She got up to leave, Henstridge said, but he blocked the doorway with his body and wouldn’t budge. He began touching himself, she said, then forced her to perform oral sex.

“He strong-armed me in a real way. He physically forced himself on me,” she said. “At some point, I gave in and he did his thing.”

Ratner, through his attorney Martin Singer, disputed her account.

Since that incident in the early 1990s, Henstridge has found success as an actress — starring in the films “Species” and “The Whole Nine Yards.” But she said she has carried the memory of the run-in with her, and watched from afar as Ratner became one of Hollywood’s most powerful players — directing, producing or financing dozens of today’s biggest box-office hits, including “Rush Hour,” “X-Men: The Last Stand,” “The Revenant” and “Horrible Bosses.”

As hundreds of women have come forward in recent weeks with allegations of sexual misconduct at the hands of producer Harvey Weinstein, director James Toback and numerous other powerful men, Henstridge decided she would no longer remain silent.

In interviews with the Los Angeles Times, Henstridge and five other women accused Ratner of a range of sexual harassment and misconduct that allegedly took place in private homes, on movie sets or at industry events.

As is often the case, none of the women reported the allegations to the police.

On Ratner’s behalf, Singer “categorically” disputed their accounts.

“I have represented Mr. Ratner for two decades, and no woman has ever made a claim against him for sexual misconduct or sexual harassment,” Singer said in a 10-page letter to The Times. “Furthermore, no woman has ever requested or received any financial settlement from my client.”

It feels as if I keep going up against the same bully at school who just won't quit.
-- Actress Olivia Munn

Olivia Munn said that while visiting the set of the 2004 Ratner-directed “After the Sunset” when she was still an aspiring actress, he masturbated in front of her in his trailer when she went to deliver a meal. Munn wrote about the incident in her 2010 collection of essays without naming Ratner. On a television show a year later, Ratner identified himself as the director, and claimed that he had “banged” her, something he later said was not true. The same year her book was published, Munn ran into Ratner at a party thrown by Creative Artists Agency and he boasted of ejaculating on magazine covers featuring her image, she told The Times.

She said that persistent false rumors that they had been intimate have infuriated her, prompting her to talk to The Times in support of other women who are “brave enough to speak up.”

“I've made specific, conscientious choices not to work with Brett Ratner,” Munn said.

“It feels as if I keep going up against the same bully at school who just won't quit,” she said. “You just hope that enough people believe the truth and for enough time to pass so that you can't be connected to him anymore.”

Ratner “vehemently disputes” Munn’s allegations, Singer said.


Director Brett Ratner and producer Robert Evans stand for a photo at a Beverly Hills Oscars party in 2005. Stephen Shugerman / Getty Images

A playboy persona

Ratner, 48, has long flaunted his playboy persona, bragging publicly about his sexual prowess. He has been romantically linked to the likes of Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan and Mariah Carey. In December, Tina Fey, speaking at the Hollywood Reporter’s annual Women in Entertainment breakfast, cracked: “Brett Ratner is here. In his defense, he thought this was a thing where you could eat breakfast off of 100 women.”

For years, he palled around with Robert Evans, the slick-haired former production chief at Paramount Pictures who was later convicted of trafficking cocaine, and Toback, who, as The Times reported last month, has been accused of sexual misconduct by more than 300 women. In a January interview with Variety, Ratner said Evans, Toback and Roman Polanski, who was convicted of having unlawful sex with a minor in 1977, were among his “closest friends.”

After Ratner quipped that “rehearsal is for fags” while appearing at a 2011 screening of his film “Tower Heist,” he was widely criticized. The misstep cost him a plum gig: He quickly resigned from producing the 2012 Academy Awards telecast and issued an apology, calling it a “dumb way of expressing myself.”

In interviews, Ratner has tried to smooth out the rough edges of his bad-boy image, especially more recently, as he has expanded his business ventures. In 2012, Ratner co-founded production company RatPac Entertainment. A year later, RatPac partnered with now-Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s Dune Entertainment to create the investment vehicle RatPac-Dune Entertainment, which inked a co-financing deal with Warner Bros. worth about $450 million. Among Ratner’s executive producing credits via those companies are “Jersey Boys” and “Black Mass.”

The filmmaker often has told reporters that he doesn’t use drugs or drink alcohol. Sometimes, in enumerating his lack of vices, Ratner also points out his love of beautiful women, saying, for example, in a 2008 Jewish Journal story: “I'm not into dark stuff. I'm just a nice Jewish kid ... who loves movies and pretty girls."


Jaime Ray Newman in 2014. Andrew Goodman / Getty Images for the Maui Film Festival at Wailea

Actress Jaime Ray Newman said Ratner put it more bluntly to her, explaining in vulgar terms that he needed sex — not alcohol or drugs.

Newman said she encountered Ratner in 2005 when they were both in first class on an Air Canada flight. The filmmaker swapped seats with his assistant before departure so he could be next to her, she said. Newman, who was on her way to shoot her first major acting role on the TV show “Supernatural,” was excited to talk with a “famous director” about to helm “X-Men: The Last Stand,” she said.

Within five minutes of the plane taking off, she said, Ratner began loudly describing sex acts he wanted to perform on her in explicit detail. He also showed her nude photos of his then-girlfriend, said Newman, 39, who stars on Netflix’s forthcoming “The Punisher.”

“He was graphically describing giving me oral sex and how he was addicted to it,” she said.

Newman said she was so shaken by the encounter that she immediately told a handful of people about it. Both her mother and a friend confirmed to The Times that the actress shared details shortly after the flight.

Ratner, through his attorney, denied that the incident occurred, referring to it as a “ridiculous claim.”


Actress Katharine Towne in February 2008. Charley Gallay / Getty Images for MediaPlacement

Actress Katharine Towne also described an aggressive come-on by Ratner that left her so uncomfortable that she said she still vividly remembers the incident years later. She said she met the director in L.A. around 2005 at a party in a movie star’s home, where he made unwanted advances. Ratner, she said, was persistent, “making it evident that he had one motive” — to sleep with her.

“He started to come on to me in a way that was so extreme,” said Towne, 39, whose credits include the film “What Lies Beneath.” The actress, who is the daughter of “Chinatown” screenwriter Robert Towne, excused herself. Ratner followed her into a bathroom.

“I think it’s pretty aggressive to go in the bathroom with someone you don’t know and close the door,” Towne said.

She said she was nervous, and tried to make a joke about her weight: “I don’t even know what you want with me. I’m kind of chubby right now.” He was undeterred. “I like ’em chubby sometimes,” she said Ratner replied. Towne gave Ratner her number, hoping to placate him. Ratner’s assistant called her for the next six months, unsuccessfully trying to arrange a dinner for her and the filmmaker, she said.

Ratner’s attorney Singer called Towne’s account “absurd.” “Even if hypothetically this incident occurred exactly as claimed, how is flirting at a party, complimenting a woman on her appearance, and calling her to ask her for a date wrongful conduct?” Singer said.

Although some have questioned his conduct, Ratner has defenders in the industry including five former assistants who have worked closely with him throughout the years. David Steiman, Hopi Dobuler, Drew Sherman, Brett Gursky and Izak Rappaport all said that they did not witness him misbehave and praised him as a boss and mentor.

Steiman, who was Ratner’s assistant from 1999 to 2004, said he never saw him mistreat women, and would be "shocked" if such conduct occurred. Steiman noted that Ratner dated actress Rebecca Gayheart and tennis star Serena Williams during his time working for the filmmaker.

Said Dobuler, a longtime former assistant to Ratner: “I think he’s great. ... He’s a family guy.”

Over the years, Ratner has received several honors for his philanthropic and humanitarian endeavors. On Sunday, the Jewish National Fund presented Ratner with its annual Tree of Life Award at a gala in Hollywood where the guests included film producer Avi Lerner, United Talent Agency co-founder Jim Berkus and Singer.

Gal Gadot, the Israeli star of “Wonder Woman,” had been slated to give the award to Ratner, but as The Times was reporting on his alleged sexual misbehavior last week, the actress’ publicist announced she would not appear at the event because of a scheduling conflict.

Instead, "Wonder Woman" director Patty Jenkins, who has known Ratner for years, presented him the award, saying: "He’s gone on to be this real power in this town. He’s a big character. He’s a big personality. But you know what I love about Brett, he wants that for everybody else too."


Actress Olivia Munn arrives at the 2017 Vanity Fair Oscar Party in February. Axelle/Bauer-Griffin / FilmMagic

Munn’s Ratner run-ins

New to Los Angeles and pursuing an acting career, Munn said she was thrilled when a friend invited her to the set of "After the Sunset.” "I was so excited, because I mean, that's why you come out to California and Hollywood," recalled the actress, 37, whose credits now include HBO's "The Newsroom" and the movies "Magic Mike” and "X-Men: Apocalypse."

Not long after Munn arrived on the Santa Monica set in 2004, she said, she was asked to drop some food off in Ratner's trailer as a favor. She said she was assured that the director would not be there.

Munn entered Ratner’s trailer and quickly placed the food on a table. She said she was startled to find him inside. She tried to make a quick exit, but Ratner implored her not to leave.

"He walked out ... with his belly sticking out, no pants on, shrimp cocktail in one hand and he was furiously masturbating in the other," Munn said. "And before I literally could even figure out where to escape or where to look, he ejaculated."

Munn said she let out a "startled scream" and raced out of the trailer. She said she immediately told the man who had asked her to deliver the food. His reaction? “It wasn't a shock. It wasn't surprise,” Munn recalled. “It was just, ‘Ugh, sorry about that.’"

Munn said she left the set and called her sister, Sara Potts, who urged her to speak with a lawyer. Potts confirmed Munn’s account.

The attorney dissuaded her from going up against a powerful director as a fledgling actress, so she did nothing.

“That did leave an impact on me,” Munn said, reflecting on the conversation. "How broken do women have to be before people listen?"

She wrote about the incident in her book, “Suck It, Wonder Woman! The Misadventures of a Hollywood Geek” — but stripped out names and details. During a 2011 appearance on “Attack of the Show,” a television program Munn previously co-hosted, Ratner identified himself as the unnamed director, but denied masturbating in front of her. “I used to date Olivia Munn, I will be honest with everybody here,” he said. “When she was ‘Lisa.’ That was the problem. She wasn’t Asian back then.”

“I banged her a few times ... but I forgot her,” he said.

Days later, he went on the Howard Stern show and admitted he never slept with Munn and expressed contrition for making her look like “a whore.”

“I felt horrible,” he told the Sirius XM Radio host. “I said I banged her three times, which wasn’t true.”

In response to questions from The Times, Singer said that Munn and Ratner had indeed had “an intimate relationship.” Munn described that as “a complete lie.”

“I shouldn’t have to be completely broken, battered, and devalued in order to prove that he crossed a line,” she said.

I shouldn’t have to be completely broken, battered, and devalued in order to prove that he crossed a line.
Olivia Munn

Munn said she continued to run into Ratner at a handful of Hollywood events.

In 2010, after recently appearing on the cover of a magazine, she attended a CAA-hosted party where, she said, Ratner asked her, "Why do you hate me?" She said she told him: "It's more of a dislike."

Ratner grew angry, she said, and responded: “Why? I bought 10 of your magazines and came over all of them.”

Singer said Ratner “has no recollection of making such a statement.”

Immediately after the run-in, Munn told her friend Cara McConnell, whom she had brought to the party, about what transpired.

“She came up to me right afterwards,” McConnell said. “She [said] ‘I can’t believe this happened to me. I can’t believe he did that.’”

An actor who overheard the conversation confirmed Munn’s account. A third partygoer confirmed being told immediately about the “vulgar” encounter from someone who overheard it directly.


Director Brett Ratner on the set of "Rush Hour 2" circa 2001. Michael Ochs Archives / Getty Images

On the set of ‘Rush Hour 2’

The claimed incident with Munn is not the only one to allegedly occur on set of a Ratner-helmed film.

Four people who were involved in the production of Ratner’s “Rush Hour 2” in Las Vegas in 2001 described a sexually charged atmosphere — one in which the director was pursuing women. The PG-13 film includes several scenes featuring women in bikinis and lingerie, and the set, according to these people, was teeming with beautiful young women.

Eri Sasaki, then a 21-year-old part-time model and aspiring singer, said her role as an extra required her to wear a skimpy outfit that exposed her midriff. While waiting for filming to begin one day, Ratner approached her, ran his index finger down her bare stomach and asked if she wanted to go into a bathroom with him. When she said no, she recalled Ratner saying, "Don't you want to be famous?"

A day or two later, Ratner again asked her to go into the bathroom with him, and again asked if she wanted to be a movie star. He offered to give her a line of dialogue in the film. Sasaki said no.

Singer said Ratner has no recollection of the alleged incident.

Jorina King also worked as a background actress on the film.

On the first day of shooting, King said, Ratner plucked her from a crowd of female extras and said he later wanted to discuss giving her a speaking part.

The next day, he asked her to come to his trailer and told her he needed to see her breasts, she said. King said she rejected his request and hid in a restroom. “I figured if I could stay out of his eyesight, if I could stay away from him, he will forget about me and he will choose someone else, and that is exactly what happened,” King said, adding that she feared him — and losing the work.

Kent Richards, who was a production assistant on the set of “Rush Hour 2,” said that Sasaki told him, during the production, about her experience with Ratner. He also said he recalled a conversation in which King expressed being uncomfortable on set, and referenced Ratner. Richards also said two or three other background actresses complained to him, alleging that Ratner asked them to show him their breasts or to touch his penis. Singer disputed Richards’ account, calling it a “secondhand story about unnamed individuals.”

David Anthony, whose company at the time, Background Players, handled extras casting for the film’s shoot in L.A. and Las Vegas, said that three background actresses who worked on the project told him that Ratner had asked them out on “dates.”

“In Brett’s defense, I am sure he is not the only heterosexual man hitting on women on that set,” he said.

King, who later founded the background casting agency Wild Streak Talent, said that she’d dealt with brusque men on movie sets, but nothing like Ratner.

“He feels entitled, that this is what he wants, this is how it is going to be, and this feels like normal business to him,” she said.

Singer called King’s claims “absurd” and “nonsensical.” “The movie was obviously already cast and shooting, so the notion that there would be a discussion of getting her a speaking role in the middle of a movie shoot is ridiculous,” Singer said.

He provided a statement by James M. Freitag, an assistant director on the set, who said that he received no such complaints during “Rush Hour 2” filming.

“Any complaints of any kind including sexual harassment would be immediately directed to my attention,” Freitag said. “There were no complaints reported to me whatsoever.”


Natasha Henstridge in August 2015. Michael Tran / FilmMagic

Seeing Ratner again

Since their encounter in New York in the 1990s, Henstridge, 43, has crossed paths with Ratner numerous times in Hollywood, including once during the last ten years at a party with her friend Amy Del Rio.

"She saw someone in the crowd and her body language changed," said Del Rio, an entertainment lawyer. "I asked her if she was OK and she said 'no.' Then I saw she was looking at Brett Ratner. I asked if she knew him. She said, 'He's not a good guy. I knew him back in the day in New York.' She was really weird, like, 'I wanna get out of here.'"

Henstridge detailed the alleged encounter with Ratner to Del Rio only within the last month. But three other people — a former boyfriend, a neighbor and a close friend — confirmed to The Times that Henstridge told them about the incident over a roughly 10-year period beginning in the mid-1990s.

Although he acknowledged spending time with her, Ratner disputed Henstridge’s claims. Singer accused the actress of being “upset after learning my client had a girlfriend who he would not leave” for her.

Henstridge told The Times that she was not interested in dating Ratner and, before that night, had never been alone with him.

Henstridge’s neighbor Lilith Berdischewsky said that the actress told her about the incident with Ratner in the mid-2000s. “I remember when she was going to some audition and she says, ‘I don’t know whether I should go or not, but [Ratner] probably is not going to be there.’ And she came back and she was shaking,” Berdischewsky recalled.

Indeed, Henstridge, who recently appeared on the television shows “Medinah” and “Beauty & the Beast,” went to an audition for the TV drama "Prison Break," which Ratner executive produced, knowing he might be in the room.

"And he was," said the actress, who has two sons, ages 16 and 19. "I had two young kids and had to go to work and make a living. And he just acted like we were old friends from back in the day in New York, saying, 'I haven't seen you in years.' Auditioning is already bad enough. But trying to focus on the work, I just felt sick."

She didn’t get the part.

amy.kaufman@latimes.com
@AmyKinLA
daniel.miller@latimes.com
@danielnmiller
Times staff writers Victoria Kim, Andrew Khouri and Glenn Whipp contributed to this report.

[admin]

Kate Winslet Refused To Thank Harvey Weinstein At 2009 Oscars And We All Missed It: Harvey Weinstein's name was notably absent from her 2009 speech
by Daisy Murray
October 16, 2017

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The idea that Harvey Weinstein's alleged assaults were an 'open secret' in Hollywood is a depressing one.

But as well as new allegations surfacing, we're also looking back at all the potential acts of defiance, which were committed by Hollywood's elite over the years.

We know that Angelina Jolie refused to work with him after a 'bad experience with Harvey Weinstein in [her] youth' and even warned others when they did. We also know that Courtney Love warned women from accepting invites to Weinstein's hotel room back in 2005.

Now it has emerged that Kate Winslet pointedly omitted her thanks to Weinstein in her 2009 Oscar speech for her role in The Reader.



It has been much reported that Weinstein is one of the most thanked people in Oscar history, after Steven Spielberg and around the same amount as God.

However, for Winslet's Best Actress win, his name was notably absent from the nineteen person-strong list.

The Weinstein Company financed and distributed the film, and she was even asked to thank the producer if she won. However, it has now emerged that her refusal to do so was a conscious one.

According to The LA Times, Winslet said the omission '…was deliberate. That was absolutely deliberate.'

She explained, 'I remember being told. 'Make sure you thank Harvey if you win.' And I remember turning around and saying, 'No I won't. No I won't.' And it was nothing to do with not being grateful. If people aren't well-behaved, why would I thank him?'

We have evidence that Harvey doesn't like it when he isn't thanked. Here's that video of him telling off Jennifer Lawrence for forgetting to thank him at the Oscars:



Kate Winslet went on to say, 'The fact that I'm never going to have to deal with Harvey Weinstein again as long as I live is one of the best things that's ever happened and I'm sure the feeling is universal.'

Though Winslet has not claimed any sexual misconduct, she claims his attitude towards her was still bullish.

Winslet's first film was Peter Jackson's 1994 Heavenly Creatures, produced by Weinstein's Miramax.


Kate Winslet and Harvey Weinstein
GETTY

Winslet claims that he has held that over her:

'For my whole career, Harvey Weinstein, whenever I've bumped into him, he'd grab my arm and say, 'Don't forget who gave you your first movie.' Like I owe him everything. Then later, with 'The Reader,' same thing, 'I'm gonna get you that Oscar nomination, I'm gonna get you a win, I'm gonna win for you.'



She continues in her LA times interview:

'I can't even begin to describe the disgraceful behaviour that went on — and I'm actually not going to because it's a can of worms that I'm not prepared to publicly open — nothing to do with sexual harassment, thankfully, lucky me. My god. I somehow dodged that bullet.'

[admin]

Actress Natassia Malthe Accuses Harvey Weinstein Of Raping Her After BAFTA Awards: The actress gave a detailed account of the alleged attack during a press conference with her lawyer in New York.
by Naomi Gordon
October 26, 2017

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Norwegian actress Natassia Malthe has alleged that film producer Harvey Weinstein raped her in a London hotel room after the 2008 BAFTA Awards.

Malthe is the latest in a long line of women to come forward and accuse Weinstein of sexual assault, holding a press conference with her lawyer Gloria Allred in New York yesterday (25 October) during which she gave a detailed account of the alleged incident.

The 43-year-old star told reporters that after meeting the film producer in London on 10 February, she told him that she was staying at the Sanderson hotel after being put on the spot.


Attorney Gloria Allred holds press conference with Natassia Malthe
GETTY MIKE COPPOLA

She claims that she was awoken by 'repeated pounding' on her hotel room door and from someone shouting: 'Open the door Natassia Malthe, it's Harvey Weinstein.'

After opening the door, Malthe alleges Weinstein was semi-dressed and implied that having sex with him would secure her a film role. She alleges that he then began to touch himself.

'I was sitting on the bed talking to Harvey when he pushed me back and forced himself onto me. It was not consensual. He did not use a condom,' Malthe said.

'I was completely grossed out. I believe that I disassociated during the time that he was having sex with me. I laid still and closed my eyes and just wanted it to end. I was like a dead person. Afterwards I lay there in complete disgust.'



Malthe alleges that the next day she received a script, and went back to LA where she was under the impression she had the role in the musical drama Nine co-starring Daniel Day Lewis, Nicole Kidman and Judi Dench.

She claimed that Weinstein then invited her Beverly Hills Peninsula Hotel where he alleged an assistant would be present. But once she had arrived, she claims he asked her to take part in a threesome with another woman.

She added: 'I had experienced sexual harassment from other powerful men in Hollywood, but my experiences with Harvey were the worst.'

Her lawyer Allred said that Malthe was 'considering' reporting the alleged attack to police.

Weinstein is currently the subject of criminal investigations in London, New York and Los Angeles. The Weinstein Company - which he co-founded with his brother Bob and was recently fired from - is the subject of a civil rights investigation.

Weinstein has 'unequivocally denied' allegations of non-consensual sex.

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Harvey Weinstein Reportedly Used the Fashion Industry as 'a Pipeline' To Get To Women: A new report alleges that the producer used his ties to the fashion world to obtain access to models.
by Ella Alexander
October 24, 2017

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Harvey Weinstein allegedly used his ties with the fashion world as a way of obtaining access to models, the Los Angeles Times reports. The paper claims that the producer used his ties with the industry as "a pipeline" to young, vulnerable women working far from home. More than 10 models, including Cara Delevingne, have accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct.

Although he is best known for his Hollywood career, Weinstein also executive produced Project Runway, invested in Halston and backed luxury label Marchesa, which was co-founded by his wife, Georgina Chapman. The designer has since left her husband following the numerous sexual assault and harassment allegations.

Former Brazilian model Juliana De Paula told the LA Times she was forced to defend herself with a broken glass after Weinstein groped her and then chased her round his apartment naked. She and three models met him at an Italian restaurant in New York, and he invited the group to visit his loft afterwards. Once they were in the lift to his flat, he allegedly began molesting the women, "forcing" them to kiss one another: "Like putting both heads together," said De Paula.

Once they were inside his apartment, he removed his clothes and ushered the models into his bedroom. De Paula ran into the bathroom where he followed her.

"He was moving toward me. I got scared, and I was afraid," De Paula said, before breaking a wine glass and saying to him. "You let me out of here right now, or this is going to have serious consequences."

She says he let her leave the loft.

Another model, Zoë Brock, told The Times about an evening where she hid in the bathroom after the producer stood before her naked and demanded a massage.

"I hope that from this moment on, young girls, from every country, start to value themselves as more than the objects the industry has always treated them as," said Brock.

Weinstein has apologized for some of his behavior, but has denied all non-consensual sex allegations.

[admin]

Lupita Nyong’o: Speaking Out About Harvey Weinstein
by Lupita Nyong'o
New York Times
October 19, 2017

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Lupita Nyong’o in 2015. Credit Jesse Dittmar for The New York Times

I have been following the news and reading the accounts of women coming forward to talk about being assaulted by Harvey Weinstein and others. I had shelved my experience with Harvey far in the recesses of my mind, joining in the conspiracy of silence that has allowed this predator to prowl for so many years. I had felt very much alone when these things happened, and I had blamed myself for a lot of it, quite like many of the other women who have shared their stories.

But now that this is being discussed openly, I have not been able to avoid the memories resurfacing. I have felt sick in the pit of my stomach. I have felt such a flare of rage that the experience I recount below was not a unique incident with me, but rather part of a sinister pattern of behavior.

I met Harvey Weinstein in 2011 at an awards ceremony in Berlin, while I was still a student at the Yale School of Drama. An intermediary introduced him to me as “the most powerful producer in Hollywood.” As an aspiring actress, I was of course eager to meet people in the industry but cautious about strangers, and the intentions of men in general. So I tried to vet this famous producer by asking my dinner-table companions what they knew of him. A woman who was a producer herself cautiously advised me to “keep Harvey in your corner.” She said: “He is a good man to know in the business, but just be careful around him. He can be a bully.” And so I exchanged contacts with him in the hopes that I would be considered for one of his projects. I wanted to keep things professional, so I made a point of referring to him as “Mr. Weinstein.” But he insisted that I call him by his first name. In this first encounter, I found him to be very direct and authoritative, but also charming. He didn’t quite put me at ease, but he didn’t alarm me, either.

Not long after we met in Berlin, Harvey wrote to me inviting me to attend a screening of a film — a competitor’s film similar to one he had produced. He said we would be watching it with his family at his home in Westport, Conn., which was not far away from New Haven, where I was living at the time. He would send a car to pick me up. I accepted the invitation.

The driver and I met Harvey in the little town of Westport, where he informed me that we would be having lunch at a restaurant before getting to his home. I did not think much of this. It was a busy restaurant, and as soon as we sat down he ordered a vodka and diet soda for himself. I asked for a juice. Harvey was unimpressed with my choice and told the waiter to bring me a vodka and diet soda instead. I declined and said I wanted the juice. We went back and forth until finally he turned to the waiter and said, “Get her what I tell you to get her. I’m the one paying the bill.” I smiled and remained silent. The waiter left and returned with a vodka and diet soda for me. He placed it on the table beside my water. I drank the water. Harvey told me that I needed to drink the vodka and diet soda. I informed him that I would not.

“Why not?” I remember him asking. “Because I don’t like vodka, and I don’t like diet soda, and I don’t like them together,” I said. “You are going to drink that,” he insisted. I smiled again and said that I wouldn’t. He gave up and called me stubborn. I said, “I know.” And the meal proceeded without much further ado. In this second encounter with Harvey, I found him to be pushy and idiosyncratic more than anything.

We got to his home after lunch and I met his domestic staff and his young children. He took me on a brief tour of the house before he rounded us all up in the screening room to watch the film. He had just produced a similar film of his own, but everyone was raving about this rival version.

I settled in for the film, but about 15 minutes in, Harvey came for me, saying he wanted to show me something. I protested that I wanted to finish the film first, but he insisted I go with him, laying down the law as though I too was one of his children. I did not want another back-and-forth in front of his kids, so I complied and left the room with him. I explained that I really wanted to see the film. He said we’d go back shortly.

Harvey led me into a bedroom — his bedroom — and announced that he wanted to give me a massage. I thought he was joking at first. He was not. For the first time since I met him, I felt unsafe. I panicked a little and thought quickly to offer to give him one instead: It would allow me to be in control physically, to know exactly where his hands were at all times.

Part of our drama school curriculum at Yale included body work, using massage techniques on one another to understand the connection between body, mind and emotion, and so I felt I could rationalize giving him one and keep a semblance of professionalism in spite of the bizarre circumstance. He agreed to this and lay on the bed. I began to massage his back to buy myself time to figure out how to extricate myself from this undesirable situation. Before long he said he wanted to take off his pants. I told him not to do that and informed him that it would make me extremely uncomfortable. He got up anyway to do so and I headed for the door, saying that I was not at all comfortable with that. “If we’re not going to watch the film, I really should head back to school,” I said.

I opened the door and stood by the frame. He put his shirt on and again mentioned how stubborn I was. I agreed with an easy laugh, trying to get myself out of the situation safely. I was after all on his premises, and the members of his household, the potential witnesses, were all (strategically, it seems to me now) in a soundproof room.

Earlier Harvey had sent the driver to the store to buy a boxed collection of “The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency,” an HBO show that he had produced. This was the project he thought I would be right for, he said. (I later found out that the show had not been on the air for some time.) As I prepared to leave his home, he presented it to me. He wanted me to check it out and let him know what I thought. He would be in touch about it. I left for New Haven with his driver.

I didn’t quite know how to process the massage incident. I reasoned that it had been inappropriate and uncalled-for, but not overtly sexual. I was entering into a business where the intimate is often professional and so the lines are blurred. I was in an educational program where I was giving massages to my classmates and colleagues every day. Though the incident with Harvey had made me uncomfortable, I was able to explain and justify it to myself, and shelve it as an awkward moment. His offer to me to be a part of the HBO show was a very attractive one and I was excited about it, especially as I would be graduating in another year. I didn’t know how to proceed without jeopardizing my future. But I knew I would not be accepting any more visits to private spaces with Harvey Weinstein.

I decided to invite Harvey to come to a production I was in at school. Perhaps that way he would really see what I had to offer, and he would see my colleagues, too. He accepted the invitation, but the night of the production, he sent a message saying he had been caught up in New York and would be unable to attend. He would make it up to me. So when I received an official invitation to a staged reading of his new Broadway show, “Finding Neverland,” I was not surprised. I was still debating whether I should accept his invitation, and so I responded saying I was not certain that I could make it because of my school schedule. He responded with exactly the words I needed to hear: Come with whomever you want to come with. And so I invited two of my trusted male friends.

We attended the reading, and afterward Harvey invited us all to a restaurant for dinner with his comrades and collaborators. He sat me next to him, and another actress sat across from me. He had my friends sit at a different table. The talk was shop the whole time and Harvey held court with ease. He was charming and funny once more, and I felt confused about the discomfort I had previously experienced. I looked at the actress who I was informed had just worked with him on a project, searching her face for any sort of indication that she too had been made to feel uncomfortable by this powerful man, but of course I saw nothing. We did not stay very long because we had to catch a train back to New Haven. My friends had been equally charmed by Harvey. He knew when to turn it on if he wanted something. He was definitely a bully, but he could be really charming, which was disarming and confusing. I left feeling that perhaps he had learned my boundaries and was going to respect them.

A couple of months later, I received an email from Harvey, inviting me again to New York for a screening of “W.E.” After the screening, we would have drinks in TriBeCa. I then received a phone call from one of his male assistants to arrange my transportation. Feeling more confident about the new sense of boundaries that we had established in our last meeting, I attended the screening on my own this time. Afterward, as planned, his male assistant arranged for me to get to the Tribeca Grill, where Harvey would be joining us. I met a female assistant when I arrived there. I was expecting that it would be a group of us, as it had been for the reading, but she informed me it would just be Mr. Weinstein. She would sit with me until he arrived. She seemed on edge, but I could only imagine how stressful it was to work for a man who had so much going on.

Harvey arrived and the assistant immediately disappeared. We ordered drinks and starters. Again he was offended by my nonalcoholic beverage choice but he didn’t fight me on it as hard. Before the starters arrived, he announced: “Let’s cut to the chase. I have a private room upstairs where we can have the rest of our meal.” I was stunned. I told him I preferred to eat in the restaurant. He told me not to be so naïve. If I wanted to be an actress, then I had to be willing to do this sort of thing. He said he had dated Famous Actress X and Y and look where that had gotten them.

I was silent for a while before I mustered up the courage to politely decline his offer. “You have no idea what you are passing up,” he said. “With all due respect, I would not be able to sleep at night if I did what you are asking, so I must pass,” I replied.

His whole demeanor changed at that point. “Then I guess we are two ships passing in the night.” I had never heard that saying before, so I remember asking him what it meant. “It means just that,” he said. “We are two ships going in two different directions.”

“Yes, I guess we are.”

“So we are done here,” he said. “You can leave.”

We got up, having not eaten anything, and he led me out of the restaurant. My heart was beating very fast. A cab was hailed for me. I said I would take the subway (I could not afford a cab at the time), but he handed me some money and told me not to be silly, take the cab. Before I got in, I needed to make sure that I had not awakened a beast that would go on to ruin my name and destroy my chances in the business even before I got there.

“I just want to know that we are good,” I said.

“I don’t know about your career, but you’ll be fine,” he said. It felt like both a threat and a reassurance at the same time; of what, I couldn’t be sure.

Kid in Africa ...

Rehearsal for a jungle skirmish between two groups of barefoot black children painted with white stripes like a mob of tiny zebras called for the bad guys, fleeing down a twisting jungle path, to be suddenly felled by a barrage of arrows from pursuing good guys. The action during rehearsal must not have been convincing enough. Before the live camera was used a thin piano wire was secretly rigged shin-high across the trail. Down the path bolted the bad guys. Racing into the disguised trip wire, the whole bunch cartwheeled heads over heels into one squirming heap, with yowls rising from the pileup of small bodies. Some shins were bleeding. Out of pure sympathy I burst into tears, my first cry on a movie set. Lamont was laughing above the wailed chorus of pain. By then I had begun to suspect how powerful and purposeful the people were who ran things on the set. Self-interest dominated; compassion was secondary. Those coming from home environments like mine, where kindness is cultivated side by side with ambition, could find themselves ill-prepared to accept this reality ...

Beyond the soundproof stage door our mothers knitted and chatted. Whatever happened was something apparently only between us and the animals.

-- Child Star, by Shirley Temple Black

I did not see Harvey again until September 2013 when I was in Toronto for the premiere of “12 Years a Slave,” the first feature film I was in. At an after-party, he found me and evicted whoever was sitting next to me to sit beside me. He said he couldn’t believe how fast I had gotten to where I was, and that he had treated me so badly in the past. He was ashamed of his actions and he promised to respect me moving forward. I said thank you and left it at that. But I made a quiet promise to myself to never ever work with Harvey Weinstein.

Not long after I won the Academy Award in 2014, I received an offer to play a role in one of the Weinstein Company’s forthcoming films. I knew I would not do it simply because it was the Weinstein Company, but I did not feel comfortable telling this to anybody. I turned down the role, but Harvey would not take no for an answer. While at Cannes, he insisted on meeting with me in person. I agreed to do it only because my agent would be present. In the meeting, he was honest about intending to persuade me to do his movie. I told him I simply did not feel it was a role I needed to play. He said he was open to making it bigger, more significant, maybe they could add a love scene. He said if I did this one for him, he would do another one for me — basically guaranteeing backing a star-vehicle film for me. I ran out of ways of politely saying no and so did my agent. I was so exasperated by the end that I just kept quiet. Harvey finally accepted my position and expressed that he still wanted to work with me at some point. “Thank you, I hope so,” I lied.

And that was the last of my personal encounters with Harvey Weinstein. I share all of this now because I know now what I did not know then. I was part of a growing community of women who were secretly dealing with harassment by Harvey Weinstein. But I also did not know that there was a world in which anybody would care about my experience with him. You see, I was entering into a community that Harvey Weinstein had been in, and even shaped, long before I got there. He was one of the first people I met in the industry, and he told me, “This is the way it is.” And wherever I looked, everyone seemed to be bracing themselves and dealing with him, unchallenged. I did not know that things could change. I did not know that anybody wanted things to change. So my survival plan was to avoid Harvey and men like him at all costs, and I did not know that I had allies in this.

Fortunately for me, I have not dealt with any such incidents in the business since. And I think it is because all the projects I have been a part of have had women in positions of power, along with men who are feminists in their own right who have not abused their power. What I am most interested in now is combating the shame we go through that keeps us isolated and allows for harm to continue to be done. I wish I had known that there were women in the business I could have talked to. I wish I had known that there were ears to hear me. That justice could be served. There is clearly power in numbers. I thank the women who have spoken up and given me the strength to revisit this unfortunate moment in my past.

Our business is complicated because intimacy is part and parcel of our profession; as actors we are paid to do very intimate things in public. That’s why someone can have the audacity to invite you to their home or hotel and you show up. Precisely because of this we must stay vigilant and ensure that the professional intimacy is not abused. I hope we are in a pivotal moment where a sisterhood — and brotherhood of allies — is being formed in our industry. I hope we can form a community where a woman can speak up about abuse and not suffer another abuse by not being believed and instead being ridiculed. That’s why we don’t speak up — for fear of suffering twice, and for fear of being labeled and characterized by our moment of powerlessness. Though we may have endured powerlessness at the hands of Harvey Weinstein, by speaking up, speaking out and speaking together, we regain that power. And we hopefully ensure that this kind of rampant predatory behavior as an accepted feature of our industry dies here and now.

Now that we are speaking, let us never shut up about this kind of thing. I speak up to make certain that this is not the kind of misconduct that deserves a second chance. I speak up to contribute to the end of the conspiracy of silence.

Lupita Nyong’o is an actor, director and producer.

[admin]

Game Of Throne's Lena Headey Says Harvey Weinstein Once Tried To Force Her Into His Hotel Room: The Game of Thrones actress says she felt completely 'powerless'.
by Chanel Vargas
Elle
October 18, 2017

NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT

YOU ARE REQUIRED TO READ THE COPYRIGHT NOTICE AT THIS LINK BEFORE YOU READ THE FOLLOWING WORK, THAT IS AVAILABLE SOLELY FOR PRIVATE STUDY, SCHOLARSHIP OR RESEARCH PURSUANT TO 17 U.S.C. SECTION 107 AND 108. IN THE EVENT THAT THE LIBRARY DETERMINES THAT UNLAWFUL COPYING OF THIS WORK HAS OCCURRED, THE LIBRARY HAS THE RIGHT TO BLOCK THE I.P. ADDRESS AT WHICH THE UNLAWFUL COPYING APPEARED TO HAVE OCCURRED. THANK YOU FOR RESPECTING THE RIGHTS OF COPYRIGHT OWNERS.

Over the last two weeks, more than 30 women have come forward with allegations of harassment including some forms of sexual assault against film producer Harvey Weinstein.

In a string of tweets, Game of Thrones star Lena Headey shared a story of her own devastating experience with him.

Headey recalled meeting Weinstein for the first time at the Venice Film Festival to see The Brothers Grimm. The actress went on to say that Weinstein invited her to go for a walk down by the water and made a suggestive gesture towards her once they were alone.



I just laughed it off,' Headey wrote. 'I was genuinely shocked. I remember thinking, "It's got to be a joke".'

Headey was uncomfortable and in disbelief, but suggested they head back to the party and assumed the situation was over.

Years later, Headey agreed to meet with Weinstein again for what she assumed to be a work-related breakfast.

'I had always carried the thought that he'd never try anything with me again, not after I'd laughed and said never in a million years,' Headey wrote. 'I believed that he respected my boundary, and maybe he wanted to talk about potential work.'

The next time was in LA. Years later. I had always carried the thought that he'd never try anything with me again, not after I'd laughed and said never in a million years. I believed that he respected my boundary and maybe he wanted to talk about potential work.
lena headey ✔@IAMLenaHeadey
8:24 AM - Oct 17, 2017

Despite giving Weinstein the benefit of the doubt and agreeing to meet with him for breakfast, Headey says he continued to press her about her love life. After Headey tried to deflect from his questions by changing the topic to something less personal, she claims he invited her up to his hotel room to show her a script.

'We walked to the lift and my energy shifted,' Headey wrote. 'My whole body went into high alert. The lift was going up and I said to Harvey, "I'm not interested in anything other than work. Please don't think I got in here with you for any other reason. Nothing is going to happen".'

He asked me to meet for breakfast. We ate breakfast, we talked about films, film making. He asked me a few questions about the state of my love life. I shifted the conversation back to something less personal. Then he went to the loo. He came back and said, let's go up to the room, I want to give you a script. We walked to the lift and the energy shifted, my whole body went into high alert, the lift was going up and I said to Harvey, I'm not interested in anything other than work, please don't think I got in here with you for any other reason, nothing is going to happen I said. I don't know what possessed me to speak out at that moment, only that I had such a strong sense of don't come near me.
lena headey ✔@IAMLenaHeadey
8:24 AM - Oct 17, 2017

Headey went on to say that Weinstein was furious and continued to walk her to his room. 'His hand was on my back,' she wrote.

'He was marching me forward, not a word. I felt completely powerless.'


Lena Headey | ELLE UK
GETTY

According to Headey's Twitter statement, Weinstein's key card didn't work, causing him to become even angrier and usher her back downstairs.

'He paid for my car and whispered in my ear, "Don't tell anyone about this, not your manager, not your agent",' Headey wrote. 'I got into my car and I cried.'

He was silent after I spoke, furious. We got out of the lift and walked to his room. His hand was on my back, he was marching me forward, not a word, I felt completely powerless, he tried his key card and it didn't work, then he got really angry. He walked me back to the lift, through the hotel to the valet, by grabbing and holding tightly to the back of my arm, he paid for my car and whispered in my ear Don't tell anyone about this, not your manager, not your agent. I got into my car and I cried.
lena headey ✔@IAMLenaHeadey
8:24 AM - Oct 17, 2017

Multiple actresses and women in the entertainment industry have accused Weinstein of sexual assault or harassment, including Gwyneth Paltrow, Cara Delevingne, Rose McGowan, and Angelina Jolie. Read the full list of Harvey Weinstein's accusers and their allegations here.

Weinstein denied 'many' of the earlier allegations, and in a statement by a spokesperson last week, 'unequivocally denied' all allegations of non-consensual sex, adding that 'there were never any acts of retaliation against any women for refusing his advances'. View his full statement here.

[admin]

A Full List Of Harvey Weinstein's Accusers And Their Allegations: Actresses Ashley Judd, Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie, Léa Seydoux, and Cara Delevingne are among the women who have come forward
by Emma Dibdin
October 17, 2017

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YOU ARE REQUIRED TO READ THE COPYRIGHT NOTICE AT THIS LINK BEFORE YOU READ THE FOLLOWING WORK, THAT IS AVAILABLE SOLELY FOR PRIVATE STUDY, SCHOLARSHIP OR RESEARCH PURSUANT TO 17 U.S.C. SECTION 107 AND 108. IN THE EVENT THAT THE LIBRARY DETERMINES THAT UNLAWFUL COPYING OF THIS WORK HAS OCCURRED, THE LIBRARY HAS THE RIGHT TO BLOCK THE I.P. ADDRESS AT WHICH THE UNLAWFUL COPYING APPEARED TO HAVE OCCURRED. THANK YOU FOR RESPECTING THE RIGHTS OF COPYRIGHT OWNERS.

A week has now passed since The New York Times published its industry-shattering investigation of legendary producer Harvey Weinstein, and the multiple sexual harassment allegations made against him over the past three decades. Following that piece, several more women have come forward with their own allegations of sexual assault, harassment and unwanted advances, while The New Yorker published its own exposé on Tuesday detailing yet more alleged incidents, including three allegations of rape.

In response to the initial Times article, Weinstein issued a statement partially acknowledging the accusations, saying 'I appreciate the way I've behaved with colleagues in the past has caused a lot of pain, and I sincerely apologize for it.' His attorney, Charles Harder, said in a statement that the Times' story 'is saturated with false and defamatory statements about Harvey Weinstein', and threatened to sue the paper. Lisa Bloom, another lawyer advising Weinstein, said in a statement that 'he denies many of the accusations as patently false.' Bloom subsequently resigned over the weekend.

In response to the New Yorker article, Weinstein spokesperson Sallie Hofmeister issued a statement in response which reads, in full: "Any allegations of non-consensual sex are unequivocally denied by Mr. Weinstein. Mr. Weinstein has further confirmed that there were never any acts of retaliation against any women for refusing his advances. Mr. Weinstein obviously can't speak to anonymous allegations, but with respect to any women who have made allegations on the record, Mr. Weinstein believes that all of these relationships were consensual. Mr. Weinstein has begun counseling, has listened to the community and is pursuing a better path. Mr. Weinstein is hoping that, if he makes enough progress, he will be given a second chance."

Here is a full list of Weinstein's accusers so far, their allegations, and their statements. It will be updated if and when necessary. This list contains only accusers that have personally come forward with statements in the press or via social media.

Ashley Judd



Actress Judd told The New York Times that while she was working on the 1997 movie Kiss The Girls, Weinstein invited her to the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills for what she took to be a breakfast meeting. Instead, when she arrived she was summoned to Weinstein's room, where she says he emerged in a bathrobe and asked if he could give her a massage, or if she would watch him shower.

"How do I get out of the room as fast as possible without alienating Harvey Weinstein?" Judd said she recalled thinking. "I said no, a lot of ways, a lot of times, and he always came back at me with some new ask. It was all this bargaining, this coercive bargaining." Feeling "panicky, trapped", Judd said that in order to get out of the room, she joked that she would have to win an Oscar for a Weinstein movie before she let him touch her.

Later in the article, Judd added that, "women have been talking about Harvey amongst ourselves for a long time, and it's simply beyond time to have the conversation publicly."

Zoë Brock

Brock shared her allegations via a Medium post, stating that Weinstein harassed her at the Hotel du Cap during the Cannes Film Festival in 1997. "As a model I was used to predatory men and had become adept at brushing off unwanted advances and putting creepy perverts in their place," she wrote, admitting that she initially felt safe with Weinstein and "feeling sorry for him, I went out of my way to be entertaining and nice." Later in the night, Brock said she unwittingly ended up alone with Weinstein in his hotel room for what she had thought would be a group gathering, where "the energy shifted and I became very uncomfortable."

Weinstein emerged from the bathroom naked and kept asking Brock if she wanted a massage, she said, and she ultimately locked herself in the bathroom to get away from him. After Brock reprimanded him, she wrote, he became apologetic. "I could see the guy felt truly remorseful. He was near tears. But I could also tell that he had no idea how messed up this 'apology' was. How many girls were there? Did this shit happen every day?"

Rose McGowan



According to the Times, McGowan reached a settlement with Weinstein in 1997 following an incident in a hotel room during the Sundance Film Festival. The $100,000 settlement was "not to be construed as an admission" by Weinstein, but intended to "avoid litigation and buy peace," per a legal document reviewed by the Times. While McGowan declined to comment for the paper's article, she subsequently accused Weinstein of rape in a series of tweets, stating overtly what she had long suggested: "HW raped me."

Laura Madden

Laura Madden, a former Weinstein employee, said that Weinstein asked her for massages at hotels in Dublin and London, starting in 1991. "It was so manipulative," she told The Times. "You constantly question yourself–am I the one who is the problem?"

Liza Campbell

Artist and writer Campbell wrote an article in The Times of London that when she read the allegations against Weinstein, she "was struck by how amazingly familiar" they were. She claimed that she had met with Weinstein in 1995 in his hotel room, where he invited her to "jump in the bath" with him, at which point she left.

Lauren Sivan



During a TV appearance on Monday, journalist Sivan told Megyn Kelly that Weinstein cornered her at Manhattan's Cipriani restaurant, which was closed to the public at the time. According to Sivan, Weinstein masturbated in front of her and ejaculated into a potted plant. "I could not believe what I was witnessing," Sivan said. "It was disgusting and kind of pathetic… More than the disgusting act itself, which of course was gross, the demeaning part of it all is that just 20 minutes earlier he was having this great conversation with me and I felt so great and flattered by it. And then [he said], 'Stand there and be quiet,' just a few minutes later, just negated any warm feelings I had, and I realized, 'Oh, that is what this is all about.'"

Asia Argento



Speaking to Ronan Farrow for The New Yorker, Argento alleged that Weinstein invited her to what she took to be a party at the Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc on the French Riviera, but when she arrived only Weinstein was present. Argento said that Weinstein changed into a bathrobe, and forcibly performed oral sex on her as she repeatedly told him to stop. "He terrified me, and he was so big," she said. "It wouldn't stop. It was a nightmare." Argento also said that she had consensual sexual relations with Weinstein several times over the next five years, and that she felt "obliged" to submit to his sexual advances. "After the rape, he won," she told The New Yorker.

Jessica Barth



The actress told The New Yorker that during the 2011 Golden Globe Awards, Weinstein invited her to a business meeting, offering to talk about her career. When she arrived, she said, he asked her over the phone to come up to his room, where she found he had ordered champagne and sushi. Barth said that Weinstein offered to cast her in a film and demanded a naked massage, which she refused. When she tried to leave, Barth said, Weinstein lashed out and told her that she needed to lose weight "to compete with Mila Kunis" before promising her a meeting with one of his female executives. "He gave me her number, and I walked out and I started bawling," Barth said.

Emma de Caunes



De Caunnes told The New Yorker that Weinstein invited her to a lunch meeting in Paris, where he claimed that he had a movie role in mind for her, and asked her to come to his hotel room to retrieve a copy of the book upon which the movie was based. When they arrived, she said, Weinstein disappeared into the bathroom and emerged naked, with an erection, at which point she fled. "I was very petrified," de Caunes said. "But I didn't want to show him that I was petrified, because I could feel that the more I was freaking out, the more he was excited."

Dawn Dunning



Dunning, a costume designer, told The Times that she met Weinstein in 2003 at a nightclub where she waited tables. She was an aspiring actress at the time, and said that Weinstein promised her a screen test for his then-company Miramar, and when she arrived at his hotel suite for a meeting, Weinstein was waiting in a bathrobe with contracts laid out for his next three film projects. She says he told her that she could sign them, but only if she had a threesome with him, and when she laughed–assuming he was joking–Weinstein reportedly said "You'll never make it in this business. This is how the business works."

Dunning fled the room at this point, she said, and hung up when Weinstein's assistant called her the next day. Shortly afterwards, she left acting and became a costume designer.

Ambra Battilana Gutierrez



The Italian model claimed that Weinstein groped her in 2015, and reported the incident to the new York Police Department. The next day, wearing a wire, she met with Weinstein at the Tribeca Grand Hotel in Manhattan. The audio from his meeting has been released by The New Yorker. In it, Weinstein seemingly admits to groping Gutierrez, and describes this as behavior he is "used to". Also in the taped conversation, Weinstein repeatedly urges Gutierrez to join him for "five minutes" and warns her "Don't ruin your friendship with me for five minutes."

Mira Sorvino



Sorvino told The New Yorker that Weinstein tried to give her a massage and "sort of chas[ed] her around" a hotel room at the Toronto Film Festival in 1995. A few weeks later, Sorvino says, Weinstein called her after midnight and showed up unexpectedly at her New York apartment. "Harvey had managed to bypass my doorman," she said. "I opened the door terrified, brandishing my twenty-pound Chihuahua mix in front of me, as though that would do any good." She said that she told Weinstein her new boyfriend was on the way, at which point Weinstein left. Sorvino also told the magazine that she felt her rejection of Weinstein had harmed her career. "There may have been other factors, but I definitely felt iced out and that my rejection of Harvey had something to do with it."

Lucia Stoller

Stoller told The New Yorker that she was approached by Weinstein in 2004, while she was in college and an aspiring actress, and gave him her number. He began calling her, she said, and his assistant invited her to a casting meeting in Manhattan which turned out to be a solo meeting with Weinstein. She stated that Weinstein "was simultaneously flattering me and demeaning me and making me feel bad about myself," and then forced her to perform oral sex on him, despite her saying no "over and over, 'I don't want to do this, stop, don't'. I tried to get away, but maybe I didn't try hard enough. I didn't want to kick him or fight him." At a certain point during the encounter, Stoller said, "I just sort of gave up. That's the most horrible part of it, and that's why he's been able to do this for so long to so many women: people give up, and then they feel like it's their fault."

Gwyneth Paltrow



Paltrow told The Times that at 22, Weinstein summoned her to his hotel room and suggested they head to the bedroom for massages, which she refused. She said that she confided in her then-boyfriend Brad Pitt, who confronted Weinstein about the incident (a representative for Pitt confirmed this account of events). Soon after this, Paltrow said, Weinstein called her and "screamed at her for a long time", berating her for disclosing what had happened in the hotel room. At the time, Paltrow had just been cast in the Weinstein-produced movie Emma, and "thought he was going to fire me."

Angelina Jolie



Jolie told The Times that Weinstein made unwanted advances on her in a hotel room in the late 1990s, which she rejected. "I had a bad experience with Harvey Weinstein in my youth, and as a result, chose never to work with him again and warn others when they did," she said in an email. "This behavior towards women in any field, any country is unacceptable."

Rosanna Arquette



Arquette told The New Yorker that Weinstein invited her to his hotel room in 1995, where he asked for a massage, then grabbed her hand and pulled it first towards his neck, and then towards his erect penis. "My heart was really racing. I was in a fight-or-flight moment," she said, adding that she told Weinstein before leaving "I will never do that… I'll never be that girl." She also said that she felt her career had suffered as a result of turning down Weinstein's advances.

Judith Godrèche



French actress Godrèche told The Times that she took a breakfast meeting with Weinstein at the Cannes Film Festival in 1996. At his hotel room, she claims he asked her for a massage and claimed it was an American custom. "The next thing I know, he's pressing against me and pulling off my sweater," she told the paper. "I tried to negotiate the situation over the years, and negotiate with myself and pretend it kind of never happened."

Katherine Kendall

Swingers actress Kendall told The Times that in 1993, Weinstein invited her to a screening which turned out to be a solo trip with him to a movie theater. After the movie, she said he invited her to his hotel room and emerged from the bathroom in a robe, asking for a massage. "Everybody does it," Kendall recalls Weinstein saying. "He literally chased me. He wouldn't let me pass him to get to the door." After she refused him, Kendall says, Weinstein asked if she would "at least" show him her breasts. She said no to everything, she told the paper: "I just thought to myself: I can't believe you're doing this to me. I'm so offended — we just had a meeting."

Tomi-Ann Roberts

Roberts told The Times that she met Weinstein as a college junior, waiting tables, and that Weinstein urged her to audition for a movie he planned to direct. She said that he asked her to meet him at his hotel, and that when she arrived Weinstein was nude in the bathtub and told her that she would give a much better audition if she were comfortable "getting naked in front of him," since her potential character in the movie had a topless scene.

Roberts said she apologized to Weinstein as she left, for being too prudish to acquiesce to his request, but later felt she had been manipulated, and doubted that she was ever under consideration for a role: "I was nobody! How had I ever thought otherwise?"

Louisette Geiss



In a news conference held Tuesday, former actress and screenwriter Geiss said that when she was shopping a screenplay at 2008's Sundance Film Festival, she met with Weinstein at a restaurant to discuss her pitch. She alleges that he invited her to his office, adjacent to his hotel room, and 30 minutes into their meeting emerged from the bathroom wearing only a bathrobe. Geiss said that he instructed her to keep talking as he got into the hot tub, and later asked her to watch him masturbate. "I do not think that Harvey Weinstein understands or comprehends how much pain and suffering this brings to me and scores of other women," Geiss said during the news conference.

Romola Garai



British actress Garai told The Guardian that she met with Weinstein at the Savoy Hotel in London for an "audition, where I'd actually already had the audition but you had to be personally approved by him." Garai said that when she arrived at Weinstein's room, "he answered the door in his bathrobe. I was only 18. I felt violated by it, it has stayed very clearly in my memory."

"The transaction was just that I was there," Garai added, explaining that once she was in the hotel room, Weinstein sat on a chair and had a brief conversation with her about film. "The point was that he could get a young woman to do that, that I didn't have a choice, that it was humiliating for me and that he had the power. It was an abuse of power."

Heather Graham



Graham told Variety that Weinstein summoned her to his office in the early 2000s, claiming that he wanted to put her in one of his films. "Later in the conversation, he mentioned that he had an agreement with his wife. He could sleep with whomever he wanted when he was out of town. I walked out of the meeting feeling uneasy. There was no explicit mention that to star in one of those films I had to sleep with him, but the subtext was there," she said. Graham added that she declined a subsequent meeting with Weinstein at his hotel, because she did not want to be alone with him.

Cara Delevingne



Delevingne shared an Instagram post on Wednesday detailing her own allegations against Weinstein. Early in her acting career, she said, Weinstein asked her whether she had slept with any women, and gave her unsolicited advice on the impact her sexuality might have on her career. A year or two later, she said, Delevingne attended a meeting with Weinstein and a director about an upcoming film, which ended up with her, Weinstein and another woman in a hotel room. Delevingne alleged that Weinstein asked the two women to kiss. "I swiftly got up and asked him if he knew that I could sing. And I began to sing," she wrote, explaining that she thought by singing she could make the situation "more professional, like an audition". After singing, she stated that she excused herself, and on her way out Weinstein tried to kiss her on the lips.

"I still got the part for the film and always thought that he gave it to me because of what happened," Delevingne wrote. "Since then, I felt awful that I did the movie. I felt like I didn't deserve the part. I was so hesitant about speaking out....I didn't want to hurt his family. I felt guilty as if I did something wrong."

caradelevingne



When I first started to work as an actress, i was working on a film and I received a call from‎ Harvey Weinstein asking if I had slept with any of the women I was seen out with in the media. It was a very odd and uncomfortable call....i answered none of his questions and hurried off the phone but before I hung up, he said to me that If I was gay or decided to be with a woman especially in public that I'd never get the role of a straight woman or make it as an actress in Hollywood. A year or two later, I went to a meeting with him in the lobby of a hotel with a director about an upcoming film. The director left the meeting and Harvey asked me to stay and chat with him. As soon as we were alone he began to brag about all the actresses he had slept with and how he had made their careers and spoke about other inappropriate things of a sexual nature. He then invited me to his room. I quickly declined and asked his assistant if my car was outside. She said it wasn't and wouldn't be for a bit and I should go to his room. At that moment I felt very powerless and scared but didn't want to act that way hoping that I was wrong about the situation. When I arrived I was relieved to find another woman in his room and thought immediately I was safe. He asked us to kiss and she began some sort of advances upon his direction. I swiftly got up and asked him if he knew that I could sing. And I began to sing....i thought it would make the situation better....more professional....like an audition....i was so nervous. After singing I said again that I had to leave. He walked me to the door and stood in front of it and tried to kiss me on the lips. I stopped him and managed to get out of the room. I still got the part for the film and always thought that he gave it to me because of what happened. Since then I felt awful that I did the movie. I felt like I didn't deserve the part. I was so hesitant about speaking out....I didn't want to hurt his family. I felt guilty as if I did something wrong. I was also terrified that this sort of thing had happened to so many women I know but no one had said anything because of fear.
OCTOBER 11

Léa Seydoux



The French actress told The Guardian that Weinstein tried to sexually assault her. "We were talking on the sofa when he suddenly jumped on me and tried to kiss me," she said. "I had to defend myself. He's big and fat, so I had to be forceful to resist him…I pushed him physically. I think he respected me because I resisted him."

Claire Forlani



The British actress posted a statement on Twitter stated that she had evaded advances from Weinstein on five occasions: three times at dinners, and twice at the Peninsula Hotel. "Nothing happened to me with Harvey, by that I mean I escaped five times," she wrote, claiming that Weinstein had suggested massages to her. "I was 25. I remember him telling me all the actresses who had slept with him and what he had done for them."

Florence Darel



French actress Darel told People that Weinstein pursued her relentlessly after they met in 1994, then propositioned her at a Paris hotel room while his wife was in an adjoining room. "I was in shock," Darel said. "I was astonished. When you have someone so physically disgusting in front of you, continuing and continuing as though this was all perfectly normal… What happened to me may not be illegal but it was inappropriate. Very inappropriate."

Darel expanded more on this incident to Le Parisien, recalling that Weinstein was undeterred when Darel told him she was in love with someone else. "He replied that didn't bother him at all and offered to have me be his mistress a few days a year. That way we could continue to work together. Basically, it was 'If you want to continue in America, you have to go through me.' " Darel said that she promptly excused herself, telling Weinstein, "I'm sorry, I have to leave."

Sophie Dix

English actress Dix told The Guardian that Weinstein tried to force himself on her at a hotel room in the mid-nineties. She stated that she locked herself in a bathroom to escape him, and that when she emerged, she found Weinstein masturbating. "I quickly closed the door again and locked it," she said. "Then when I heard room service come to the door I just ran."

Kate Beckinsale



In an Instagram post on Thursday, Beckinsale stated that Weinstein called her to a meeting at the Savoy when she was 17, and was surprised to be called up to his room rather than a conference room. She said that Weinstein answered the door in his bathrobe, and offered her alcohol. "I was incredibly naive and young and it did not cross my mind that this older, unattractive man would expect me to have any sexual interest in him," she wrote, adding that she declined his offer of alcohol and left, announcing that she had school in the morning. A few years later, she added, Weinstein asked her "if he had tried anything with me in that first meeting. I realized he couldn't remember if he had assaulted me or not."

katebeckinsale Verified



I was called to meet Harvey Weinstein at the Savoy Hotel when I was 17. I assumed it would be in a conference room which was very common.When I arrived ,reception told me to go to his room . He opened the door in his bathrobe . I was incredibly naive and young and it did not cross my mind that this older ,unattractive man would expect me to have any sexual interest in him .After declining alcohol and announcing that I had school in the morning I left ,uneasy but unscathed.A few years later he asked me if he had tried anything with me in that first meeting .I realized he couldn't remember if he had assaulted me or not .I had what I thought were boundaries - I said no to him professionally many times over the years-some of which ended up with him screaming at me calling me a cunt and making threats, some of which made him laughingly tell people oh "Kate lives to say no to me ." It speaks to the status quo in this business that I was aware that standing up for myself and saying no to things,while it did allow me to feel uncompromised in myself,undoubtedly harmed my career and was never something I felt supported by anyone other than my family.I would like to applaud the women who have come forward , and to pledge that we can from this create a new paradigm where producers,managers,executives and assistants and everyone who has in the past shrugged and said " well, that's just Harvey /Mr X/insert name here " will realize that we in numbers can affect real change.For every moment like this there have been thousands where a vulnerable person has confided outrageous unprofessional behavior and found they have no recourse, due to an atmosphere of fear that it seems almost everyone has been living in .I had a male friend who, based on my experience,warned a young actress who said she was going to dinner with Harvey to be careful. He received a phone call the next day saying he would never work in another Miramax film ;the girl was already sleeping with Harvey and had told him that my friend had warned her off.Let's stop allowing our young women to be sexual cannon fodder,and let's remember that Harvey is an emblem of a system that is sick,and that we have work to do.
OCTOBER 12

Melissa Sagemiller

The actress told The Huffington Post on Friday that Weinstein made uninvited advances towards her in the summer of 2000, while she was filming the Miramar-Distributed movie Get Over It. On one occasion, Sagemiller said that Weinstein tried to coax her into his hotel room, asked for a massage and "would not let [her] leave" until she kissed him. "I said fine and kissed him on the lips. He sort of held my head and made me kiss him, and then he's like, "OK, you can go now. That's all I wanted. Just do what I say and you can get your way."

On a third occasion, after filming wrapped, Sagemiller said that Weinstein insisted that she should travel back from Toronto to New York on his private plane, rather than her separate flight. She said that when she got to the airport, she found that Weinstein had ordered airport personnel to deliver her to his private plane, and had had her bags removed from her scheduled flight. "So I get on the plane, I walk up and I go, "Harvey, you motherfucker." He's just sitting there. He pats his hand on the seat next to him, and he's like, "See, Melissa, you can't say no to me. I always get what I want."



There were other actors on the plane, Sagemiller said, including Sisqó and Shane West, and she stayed with West throughout the flight. "Thank God. If I had walked in there and it was just [Weinstein], I don't know. I would have had to run away because that's horrendous… It was a short flight, from Toronto to New York. Shane and I were talking; we were friendly, and I stuck by him. I'm sure I had told him Harvey's stories."

Though Sagemiller says she wasn't entirely silent about the encounters at the time, she was encouraged not to formally speak out. "I was never told, 'Are you OK? Do you want to say anything? Do you want to report this?' Nothing like that. It was just, 'That's Harvey.'"

Minka Kelly



Kelly shared her story in an Instagram post on Friday, stating that after meeting Weinstein at an industry party, he requested a general meeting in his hotel room. Uncomfortable wit this, Kelly said that she asked to meet at the hotel restaurant instead, with an assistant present. After five minutes, Kelly said, Weinstein asked the assistant to leave.

At this point, Kelly wrote, Weinstein said to her "I know you were feeling what i was feeling when we met the other night", and offered her "a lavish life filled with trips around the world on private planes", if she would agree to be his girlfriend. "Or, 'We could just keep this professional.' All I knew was not to offend this very powerful man and to get out of the situation as quickly as possible." Kelly said that she told Weinstein she was flattered, but preferred to keep their relationship professional, at which point he allegedly said "Fine. I trust you won't tell anyone about this.' I said 'Of course not. Thank you so much for taking the time to meet with me,' — the only way I could think to shut it down gracefully and excuse myself."

Eva Green



The actress told Variety that she met Weinstein for a business meeting in Paris, where "he behaved inappropriately and I had to push him off. I got away without it going further, but the experience left me shocked and disgusted."

Green went on to say in her statement that though she had previously not wanted to speak out, she was inspired to do so by the bravery of other women who have come forward. "I understand it is important to do so as I hear about other women's experiences. Women are often condemned when they speak out and their personal reputations tarnished by association. We should recognise that this sort of behaviour exists everywhere and is not unique to the entertainment industry. The exploitation of power is ubiquitous. This behaviour is unacceptable and needs to be eliminated."

Lysette Anthony



British soap actress Anthony told London's Sunday Times that she became friendly with Wenstein after meeting him in New York in 1982. A few years later, she told the paper that she met Weinstein for a drink at his rented home in London, and "The next thing I knew he was half undressed and he grabbed me… It was the last thing I expected and I fled. That was when the predatory stalking began."

At a later date, Anthony said that Weinstein raped her. She alleges that Weinstein showed up at her flat around 10am, where he "pushed me inside and rammed me up against the coat rack… He was trying to kiss me and shove inside me." She said that she pushed Weinstein away, but he was too heavy, and "finally I just gave up."

Anthony also described the incident to London's Metropolitan police, who are investigating her claim alongside three other sexual assault allegations.

Paula Wachowiak

In what may be the earliest alleged incident, Wachowiak told the Buffalo News that Weinstein harassed her while she was working as an intern on one of his movies; 1981's The Burning. Wachowiak claimed that Weinstein exposed himself to her in a hotel room, and asked her for a massage before making a lewd remark.

Wachowiak said that she was asked by an auditor to take some checks to Weinstein in his hotel room to sign. When she arrived, she said that he was wearing only a towel, which he dropped when he took the checks from her. Once naked, Wachowiak said, Weinstein engaged in a conversation with her about the movie's finances before asking her for a massage. "That's not in my job description," she says she replied, ""I told him that I was happy to be part of the project but I would not touch him. He finally gave up and signed all the checks." At this point, Wachowiak says, she left the room and burst into tears.

At a later date, Wachowiak says she encountered Weinstein again on set, where he asked "Was seeing me naked the highlight of your internship?" She says that she responded "Actually, Harvey, you disgust me", at which point Weinstein laughed and drove away.

[admin]

Harvey Weinstein and I at The Hotel Du Cap
by Zoe Brock
October 7, 2017

NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT

YOU ARE REQUIRED TO READ THE COPYRIGHT NOTICE AT THIS LINK BEFORE YOU READ THE FOLLOWING WORK, THAT IS AVAILABLE SOLELY FOR PRIVATE STUDY, SCHOLARSHIP OR RESEARCH PURSUANT TO 17 U.S.C. SECTION 107 AND 108. IN THE EVENT THAT THE LIBRARY DETERMINES THAT UNLAWFUL COPYING OF THIS WORK HAS OCCURRED, THE LIBRARY HAS THE RIGHT TO BLOCK THE I.P. ADDRESS AT WHICH THE UNLAWFUL COPYING APPEARED TO HAVE OCCURRED. THANK YOU FOR RESPECTING THE RIGHTS OF COPYRIGHT OWNERS.

UPDATE: October 15th. This article was written in haste on October 8th, the day after I was sent a link to the NYT article that first exposed Weinstein’s abuse. Before I went to bed I heard that he was denying the accusations and threatening to sue the NYT. I woke up in a rage and hastily blurted out this story. The story is TRUE, however I have made some errors.

Even though I Googled the crap out of the Cannes Film Festival trying to figure out which year I was there, now that I have turned up a box full of old journals it appears I was there in 1998, not 1997.

On Oct 11th I added the name of Fabrizio Lombardo to the story. He is the man who helped fix this meeting for HW and made me feel safe and secure. I believe he was a fixer for HW and is responsible for helping procure women. I believe he was a friend of my agent. I saw Fabrizio later that week and he claimed to have no idea and was very apologetic and kind to me about what happened. He had a really lovely girlfriend called Claudia Gerini and they both invited me to visit them in Rome a couple of weeks later. I arrived late in the day and discovered they had only had one bed. When I made it clear I was not going to be their third wheel I slept on a sofa and had to endure the sounds of them having really loud sex. It was too late to train back out, I was too broke to get a hotel and too scared to sleep on the streets.

I originally and erroneously named and shamed the wrong person as Harvey Weinstein’s assistant and for that I am ashamed, horrified, deeply sorry and very humbled. The correct name is Rick Schwartz as you can see by the Majestic Hotel business card he wrote his name on in the aftermath of the assault. The business card was found on the other side of the world in an old Filofax I have not used in years. This was updated on Oct 12th. I am mortified that I made this mistake and know it will be used against me to refute my claims and undermine my credibility but I will persevere. I knew that the last name was of Jewish origin and started with S, and I confused the guilty party with another man I met in passing years ago in Hollywood. I won’t bring his name back into the discussion. It is Schwartz who needs the attention, not he.

On Oct 13th I added a screenshot of Rufus Sewell’s Tweet validating and corroborating my story.

On Oct 15th I added a photo of the note HW sent me with roses the next day. He was inviting me out again as if nothing had happened. This note is what caused me to make my agent, Vittorio Zeviani, promise that I would never have to see HW again.

These updates and errors are being highlighted to have full transparency. This story only becomes bigger, scarier and more serious as more survivors come forward. I am not a reporter and yet I still should have waited and done proper diligence to the story. As this story progresses and more truth is brought into the light it is clear that I am very. very lucky to have escaped unharmed. I believe Harvey Weinstein is a serial predator and that there is no clinic in the world that can cure him. He belongs behind bars for the rest of his life. This story is the tip of an enormous iceberg.

I was only 23 when I was ‘Harveyed’. It was 1997. I was a street smart kid with a tougher skin than most, and I came out of my experience with Weinstein physically unscathed, but that doesn’t make the story less shocking or emotionally jarring.





Twenty year old business card from the night in question. Rick Schwartz’s handwriting.

As a model I was used to predatory men and had become adept at brushing off unwanted advances and putting creepy perverts in their place. I had protected other, younger models from flashers and gropers, and had even scared away a knife wielding attacker on the Paris Metro by laughing in his face. He didn’t know it was a nervous reaction and probably thought I was crazier than he. But, all in all, I was still a naive girl from New Zealand, and no matter how tough I thought I was, I was completely out of my depth and very trusting.

I met Harvey Weinstein in Cannes at the Film Festival. We were seated next to each other at a fancy dinner. I didn’t catch his name and assumed I was talking to another hungry producer trying to sell a little movie to the big wigs. Feeling sorry for him, I went out of my way to be entertaining and nice. It wasn’t until later in the meal that I asked the name of his production company.

“Miramax.”

I laughed and told Harvey that we had a friend in common. Miramax had recently released the Oscar winning film ‘The Piano’ made by a family friend, Jane Campion. I told Harvey that Jane felt like a pseudo god-mother to me and related a story of how, when I was an angry teenager in a fight with my mom, she had given me a note that read “If you ever need to run away…” and made me feel like I had an ally.

With a dear mutual friend in common I felt safe with Harvey. The night was young and so was I. After dinner our large group, which included my Italian modelling agent, Vittorio Zeviani, a few rich douchebags, some decorative models, and Harvey’s entourage, rolled out into the Cannes night. Black town cars and gleaming limos took us to various parties where we glittered and shone like everyone else.

Harvey and his assistant, Rick Schwartz, never left my side.

It was fun. The last time I’d been in the South of France was in 1990. I had watched helplessly as Helena Christensen vomited all over the bathroom at Jimmy’s after doing too much blow with Michael Hutchence and Jacques Chirac, who was in between his various Presidencies of France. In 1990 I was 16. Now, at 23 I was pretty jaded. Celebrities and their antics were old news. I could hold my own.

Around midnight we ended up at a beautiful outdoor event at a mansion somewhere in a residential part of Cannes. Everyone was there, and everyone was fabulous. I saw Bono across the room. He yelled “Dolphin Girl!” and waved. I explained to Harvey that this wasn’t a nickname that had anything to do with the popular sex toy, but a name I earned after a particularly weird night in Sydney, and a 3am skinny dipping adventure that scared the crap out of U2's bodyguards.

In retrospect I was putting on a tempting show. I didn’t intend to titillate Mr Weinstein - I had no intention of leading him on. I felt safe in his company to be myself, and at no time in the evening did I feel anything but platonic energy from him.

Shortly after midnight my crew made moves to leave. We were staying on a large yacht moored in the bay and required water taxis to get us back out to it. Harvey and Rick offered us their cars and herded us towards the exit. My group was ushered into one car and I was somehow separated from them and told to get into another car with Harvey and his two friends. Stupidly, I obliged. I was told we were all going to the same place.

To this day I do not know if Vittorio was in on the ruse. My instincts tell me he was.

We started driving. The 5 minute drive to the waterfront was taking longer and I asked where we were headed.

“Change of plans! We’re all meeting at the Du Cap for one more drink.”

It’s a 30 minute drive to the Du Cap and it was close to 1am when we got there. We headed upstairs to Harvey’s room and opened another bottle of champagne while we waited for the gang to arrive.

But the gang never arrived.

After a few minutes a couple of the guys made motions to leave temporarily to make calls. The energy shifted and I became very uncomfortable. I turned to Rick and asked him to please get in touch with my friends immediately and find out where they were. Rick said he would go downstairs and see if they were having trouble getting up to the room, and left.

And suddenly I was alone in a remote hotel suite with Harvey fucking Weinstein.

My body went into high alert. I was drunk, young, miles from home, without cash to get a cab, and no cell phone. The water taxis were about to stop running for the night. It was time to sober up, and fast.

Harvey left the room, but not for long. He re-emerged naked a couple of minutes later and asked if I would give him a massage. Panicking, in shock, I remember weighing up the options and wondering how much I needed to placate him to keep myself safe. He asked if I would like a massage instead, and for a second I thought this might be a way to give him an inch without him taking a mile.

I told him I was uncomfortable and that I was angry that I had been tricked into this position. He pleaded with me to let him massage me and I let him put his hands on my shoulders while my mind raced.

How could I make it to the door? Who would help me? Would anyone hear me if I screamed?

I took note of the thick walls. I remembered the way the staff had simpered and ingratiated themselves to the film titan when we came in. I took stock of the other men who had enabled this situation, lying to my face to lure me here. The realization sunk in. I had no friends at the Du Cap. I had visions of my lifeless body being thrown onto the rocks below.

I was terrified.

I’m fortunate, however, to have a gene that makes me really angry and focused when I’m scared. It’s gotten me out of more than one scrape and it wasn’t going to fail me now. I shrugged Harvey’s hands off me, ran into the bathroom and locked the door. Harvey chased me, dick, balls and all, and banged on the door with his fists, pleading with me to come out.

There was no bathroom phone. Dammit! I looked around. Nothing but little bottles of fancy toiletries and a hair dryer. I was going to have to talk myself out of this one.

I felt outside of my body as I assessed my situation and heard myself, a 23 year old girl from New Zealand, reprimand this grown man as if he was a small child.

“This is unacceptable. Put your clothes on you naughty, naughty boy.”

Harvey, contrite, promised to cover himself and leave me alone. I came out of the bathroom and found him sitting on his bed, wearing a bathrobe, crying.

“You don’t like me because I’m fat.” He whimpered.

“Are you serious?” I yelled. “I’m fucking furious at you. You chased me around naked and scared me. You acted like a friend and then tricked me. This is no way to behave. Shame on you.”

“I’m sorry.” He cried. “How can I make it up to you?”

“Get me home. Now.”

Harvey dressed and made a call. Rick arrived looking ashen and uncomfortable. He couldn’t meet my eye. I had really liked him too. I felt so betrayed and used.

The three of us went downstairs to where the town car was waiting. We got into the back. Harvey sat in the middle. I was silent. Rick and I stared straight ahead. The ride was bizarre. Harvey, clearly wanting to show some kind of remorse, or win back my affections, began to speak some nonsense about making me a star. At one point he said “I want to be your Rock of Gibraltar”.

I still don’t know what that means.

The water taxis weren’t running and I was stranded on the shore, but Harvey kept the penthouse suite at the Majestic Hotel for ‘emergencies’ and we headed there. While he went to the front desk to tell them I would be staying Rick took the opportunity to apologize to me.

“I’m so sorry,” he said. “I want you to know that of all the girls he does this to you are the one I really felt bad about. You deserve better.”

This comment made me nauseous. It was an admission of his sycophantic enabling. I could see the guy felt truly remorseful. He was near tears. But I could also tell that he had no idea how messed up this ‘apology’ was. How many girls were there? Did this shit happen every day?

Harvey returned. The two men accompanied me up to the suite and Harvey told me I could help myself to anything and that he would arrange transport back to my boat for me in the morning.

We bid each other a terse farewell and I triple locked the door.

It was 3:30am.

I looked around. The lover in me of great stories was amused now that I was safe. I called my mother in Australia and woke her up to tell her the story. I helped myself to the mini bar and had a drink. I remembered a new actor acquaintance I had met that week who was staying in the hotel and called reception. I was put through to his room and woke him up.

“Rufus? It’s Zoe. Sorry to wake you but…”

“Don’t tell me. You’ve been Weinsteined?”

“How the f… ?”

“I was trying to warn you all night.” He said. “He does this to everyone. How do you think girls get parts in his movies?”

He went on to list a slew of female actresses who he had heard had slept with Weinstein to get roles. He told me that everyone in Hollywood knew and no one did anything to stop it. Clearly the victim-shaming rumor mill had already been working overtime.

“I missed it. I’m so stupid.”

“Do not go to sleep,” he warned. “Harvey doesn’t sleep. He will be back.”

I hung up.

Rufus Sewell is my hero.

At 6am the water taxis began running and I was already waiting on the dock. The air was warm and the sleeping town of Cannes looked peaceful as it dwindled into the distance. Dressed in yesterday’s evening wear, with what was left of yesterday’s make up, I did not make a pretty picture.

I boarded our yacht and spent some time leaning over the railings, feeling the breeze in my hair, looking back at the town and the last of its streetlights flickering in the distance. I took stock of the night and felt grateful for my assertiveness. Finally, exhausted, I slunk down to my cabin.

A couple of hours later, over breakfast, the smirks and knowing winks that passed between my group made me feel unsupported, disbelieved, whorish and cheap. No one believed my story. They all thought I had slept with Weinstein. My indignant denials were further invalidated when 13 red roses were delivered by water taxi out to the yacht, with a note that thanked me for last night.







Travel scrapbook from 1997–1998 includes the note HW sent with roses and, on another page, a sentence that reads ‘Every victim is a survivor who doesn’t know it yet’ and another ‘Being brave doesn’t mean being unafraid. It often means being afraid and doing it anyway’.


No thank you, you sociopathic freak.

Humiliated, I told my agent I never wanted see Weinstein again and demanded that we did not attend any events with him for the rest of the festival. Vittorio promised me we would not see Harvey again.

Comforted, I spent the day catching up on sleep.

That afternoon I was told we would spend the evening seeing a premiere of John Turturro’s new movie. We dined on the boat and readied for another night on the town. Cars collected us from the dock and took us to a small theatre.

Inside, it was empty.

There was no one there.

The theatre was just for us.

Vittorio, giddy with excitement, informed us that the theatre had been rented for our small party as a gift.

We sat down to watch the movie. As the lights dimmed a large, heavy set man entered the cinema and took the seat directly behind me. I knew who it was.

The opening credits began to roll and the Miramax Films sequence glittered onto the screen.

In the twenty years that have passed since this story took place I have told it many times. Every time I tell it I’m enraged anew at the culture of misogyny and abuse that is rife with powerful men in every industry. Every time I tell it I’m disgusted, all over again, at the insidious ‘bro-codes’ that many men subscribe to. A code that says it’s okay to enable your friends and employers to intimidate, threaten and manipulate women into sexual situations against their will. A culture that sees women as prey.

But most of all I remember the statement Weinstein made as he cried on his bed.

“You don’t like me because I’m fat”.

That says it all. Hearing those words the first time I saw, in an instant, an unattractive, overweight kid who never got the girl in high school, and went on to become one of the richest and most powerful men in the world so he could take revenge on the girls who rebuffed him when he was young.

I almost felt sorry for him.

Almost.

Later in the week I would discover from Rufus Sewell that he did in fact see Harvey in the Majestic Hotel elevator shortly after 7am that morning, heading up to the suite.

I like to imagine his face when he found it empty.

I saw Weinstein years later in Los Angeles when I was working as a hostess at Ago Ristorante. I was trying to be an actress and could really have used a ‘Rock of Gibraltar’. He looked at me and I turned away.

Nothing was worth the price I would have to pay.

I wish I had spoken up sooner. I wish I hadn’t thought this type of behavior was normal at the time. I wish I had thought there was something, anything, I could do to stop him from hurting women all these years. I wish this type of man was not so prevalent. And I wish I had learned from this experience and not ended up in a relationship with a man just like him. There is not a woman I know who hasn’t been emotionally or physically tormented, threatened, intimidated, abused and terrified at the hands of bullies like Weinstein and Donald Trump (another creep I met in the late 1990’s). Society condones it. Women forgive it. Men enable it. I’d like to thank the New York Times for exposing this beast and giving me the courage and impetus to tell my story, Ronan Farrow for his expose, and Sharon Waxman for endeavoring to rip the lid off this horror story in 2004.

zoe brock @missbandit
Help us @FredrikSewell. Do you remember me needing your help at Majestic Hotel after being Weinsteined? @AsiaArgento and 1 exposing enablers



Rufus Sewell
@FredrikSewell
Replying to @missbandit @AsiaArgento
I do indeed. Was off twitter today, but this is worth coming back for. I remember it very well.
10:34 AM - 13 Oct 2017