Actress made deal to escape Weinstein
Ashley Judd was tearful but selfassured in her first interview since publicly accusing Harvey Weinstein of sexual harassment. Wearing a bracelet that read “unstoppable,” she talked to Diane Sawyer and excerpts from the interview aired during Good Morning America Thursday.
Judd broke the dam on the Weinstein allegations. When the New York Times dropped its shocker of an article on Oct. 5, she was the highestprofile star at that point to come forward. More than 60 women have since come forward with similar claims against Weinstein that paint him as a sexual predator who used business meetings as an excuse to lure women to his hotel room, where he would often disrobe and try to cajole them into massages or force them into sexual acts.
Coming forward wasn’t a decision Judd made lightly, she told Sawyer.
Judd reminisced about the day that Weinstein allegedly tried to bully her two decades ago. Still fairly new in Hollywood, she went to his hotel, where she believed she would be meeting him on the patio to talk shop. Instead, the producer was waiting for her in his room.
Once inside, Weinstein started pressuring her, she said, first asking to give her a massage, then trying to get her to give him one.
Then he suggested they go into the bathroom, so she could watch him shower.
She finally got out of the room by making a deal, according to her account, saying that she would relent when she won an Oscar in one of his movies.
Judd alleged that in1999, Weinstein reminded her of their “agreement.” He told her he had the script that would win her that Oscar. By then, though, “I had come into my power, I had found my voice,” she said.
Weinstein could sense it, she said, so he told her he would let her out of the deal and “has spat my name at me ever since.” The Washington Post