Uma Thurman accuses Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault
Jocelyn Novek in New York ACTRESS Uma Thurman has accused movie producer Harvey Weinstein of sexually assaulting her at a London hotel after they worked together on the 1994 film Pulp Fiction.
Thurman broke her silence yesterday in an interview with New York Times, after saying in October that she would wait to speak out about inappropriate behaviour in the workplace because she did not want to say anything in anger.
Thurman became the latest of more than 70 women who have accused 65-year-old Weinstein of sexual misconduct, including rape.
In the New York Times article, Thurman, 47, said Weinstein pushed her down when she met him in his suite at London’s Savoy Hotel.
“He tried to shove himself on me. He tried to expose himself. He did all kinds of unpleasant things. But he didn’t actually put his back into it and force me,” she told the newspaper.
Later, she alleged, she arranged a meeting with Weinstein and warned him: “If you do what you did to me to other people you will lose your career, your reputation and your family, I promise you.”
The article says Thurman’s memory of the Weinstein encounter stops there — but it quotes a friend who was waiting downstairs as saying Thurman emerged from a lift dishevelled and shaking.
“Her eyes were crazy, and she was totally out of control,” said the friend, Ilona Herman.
When Thurman was able to talk again, Herman said, she revealed that Weinstein, who was one of the most powerful men in Hollywood, had threatened to derail her career.
A Weinstein spokeswoman said he was saddened and puzzled as to why someone he considers a colleague and friend had waited so long to make the allegations public. “Mr Weinstein acknowledges making an awkward pass 25 years ago at Ms Thurman in England after misreading her signals, after a flirtatious exchange in Paris, for which he immediately apologized and deeply regrets,” the spokeswoman said. “However, her claims about being physically assaulted are untrue.”
As well as starring in Pulp Fiction, directed by Quentin Tarantino, Thurman was the lead in Tarantino’s two-film Kill Bill action series, which were produced by Weinstein’s Miramax studio and earned $330m at global box offices.