Canadian actress sues Weinstein for two alleged sexual assaults

OTTAWA: A Canadian actress sued disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein on Wednesday for two alleged sexual assaults in Toronto in 2000, her lawyer said.

The woman, identified only as “Jane Doe” in documents filed with the Ontario Superior Court and cited by the daily Toronto Star, is also suing Miramax, The Walt Disney Company and Barbara Schneeweiss, who worked for Weinstein and is accused of “facilitating” the assaults.

The plaintiff is seeking a total of Can$14 million (RM46.5 million).

In the court documents, Doe says she was in her early 20s and working on her first movie in Toronto when Weinstein approached her on set and said she looked like a famous movie star.

Weinstein’s assistant later called to invite her to his hotel “to discuss her career.”

Once alone with Doe, Weinstein allegedly asked if she liked massages, to which she replied yes but added that the subject was “not an appropriate one for a business meeting.”

There was an “uncomfortable silence” while Weinstein “stared intently at her for several seconds,” she said in the court filings.

She added he then “overpowered” her and pushed her onto the bed, “took his penis out of his pants,” and “told Doe that he had made various famous actresses’ careers and could make Doe’s career as well.”

Afterward he pulled down her skirt and held her down by her wrists as he “forcibly performed oral sex on her without her consent,” says the statement of claim, which adds Doe eventually freed herself and left.

But in the hours that followed, Doe said Weinstein left several messages asking her to return to the hotel so that he could apologise to her in private.

“Fearful that her movie career, which had barely begun, could be destroyed if she did not return to the hotel and give Weinstein a chance to apologise,” she went back.

But as soon as she entered, she said “he threw his weight onto her and tried to stick his tongue down her throat,” before she pushed him off and left. — AFP