Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie have joined a chorus of women going public with allegations of sexual harassment and assault against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein.
In a new story reported by the New York Times, Gwyneth Paltrow said when she was 22 years old, she was told to go to Weinstein’s hotel room before shooting began on the film “Emma”. One there he tried to massage her and asked her to join him in the bedroom.
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Paltrow, now 45, left immediately, but recalled thinking to herself, “I thought you were my Uncle Harvey.” Weinstein had been something of a mentor to the actress early in her career, including on films like “Shakespeare in Love”.
“I was a kid, I was signed up, I was petrified,” she said.
After telling then-boyfriend Brad Pitt about the incident, he went to Weinstein and told him never to touch Paltrow again. Pitt confirmed the story to the Times.
Weinstein called Paltrow after being approached by Pitt. “He screamed at me for a long time,” she said, afraid that she would lose her role in “Emma”. “It was brutal.”
“I was expected to keep the secret,” she added.
In an email to the Times, Jolie said that she too had advances made on her by Weinstein.
“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,” Ms. Jolie said “This behaviour towards women in any field, any country is unacceptable.”
Actress Rosanna Arquette also described a similar incident in the early 1990s when she was summoned to Weinstein’s hotel room where she found him wearing bathrobe. He asked for a massage, she said, and then grabbed her hand and pulled it toward his crotch.
Weinstein also bragged about the famous women he claimed he had slept with, Arquette said.
On Sunday, Weinstein was terminated from his production outfit The Weinstein Company.
Following the Times story, a rep Weinstein released the following statement: “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 counselling, 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.”
