Harvey Weinstein’s longtime assistant Rowena Chiu is speaking out about her former boss, disregarding the potential consequences of the non-disclosure agreement (NDA) she was forced to sign back in the 1990s while working for the disgraced movie mogul/convicted rapist.
In a scorched-earth interview with Variety, Chiu admits she’s “breaking my NDA right now,” admitting that Weinstein “could sue me for every single interview I’ve ever done for breaking my NDA, but in practice, he’s probably not going to. He’s got bigger problems.”
Indeed he does; Weinstein is currently serving a 23-year sentence after being found guilty of sexual assault earlier this year, and reportedly tested positive for COVID-19 in March.
In her interview, Chiu reveals that Weinstein tried to sexually assault her when she accompanied him on a business trip in 1998. According to Chiu, she had only met Weinstein twice prior to that when he asked her to join him in his suite to discuss films and scripts. According to Chiu, she declined his request to give him a massage, but he pushed her against the bed and pulled of her tights before she was able to flee before anything further took place.
Still, she admitted, the trauma of the experience has never left her.
“For me, this has always been less about Harvey Weinstein or any one man’s behaviour — it has been about the system that enables this behaviour,” Perkins explained. “Power is a privilege. Your behaviour should become more impeccable with power; not less impeccable.”
Chiu also blasted the whole concept of NDAs, particularly when used to shield the crimes of wealthy sexual predators.
“NDAs should be banned as a tool to cover up sexual harassment, unequivocally,” Chiu told Variety. “If you rape someone, that’s a reportable crime. To say, ‘I’m going to have you sign a legal document, so that you can’t go to the police or lawyers to discuss what happened to you,’ that’s just plain wrong.”
The entire interview can be read in Variety.
