Weinstein accuser feels forced to settle
New Zealand model Zoe Brock feels ‘‘extremely forced’’ into taking her share of a US$25 million (NZ$37.95m) settlement from film mogul Harvey Weinstein, who she has accused of sexual harassment. ‘‘I have been dealing behind the scenes with the weight of this negotiation for months and I have been very vocal about how unhappy
I am about it with my legal team,’’ Brock told television Breakfast presenter Hayley Holt yesterday.
‘‘They have been very careful in every email and every interview to say that no-one is being forced into this settlement but I feel forced, I feel extremely forced, I don’t feel like I have a choice.’’ The conundrum, she explained, was that if she took the settlement – which would be paid out by Weinstein’s insurance, meaning he would not part with any of his own wealth – and dropped a proposed class action lawsuit, she would not be able to bring the same charges against Weinstein again.
Under the terms of the settlement, Brock would split US$18.5m (NZ$28.09m) with the other women involved in a class action lawsuit; it is unclear how much she would receive individually. The settlement would end nearly every sexual misconduct suit brought against Weinstein and would mean he could avoid admitting any wrongdoing. Brock alleges that in 1997, when she was 23 and trying to move from modelling into acting, Weinstein invited her to his hotel room on the pretext of there being a party. Instead, Brock says Weinstein was there alone and naked, asking her for a massage. Brock locked herself in the bathroom and was eventually escorted to another hotel by Weinstein’s assistant.
The following morning she told her agent who, she told Stuff, ‘‘invalidated the story and looked at me like I was a hooker’’.
He then ‘‘tricked’’ her into another meeting with Weinstein where he intimidated her into staying quiet.
In the intervening years, Brock ‘‘wrapped [the incident] up in humour and I told it as a funny story at dinner parties’’ but she decided to come forward after a 2017 New York Times expose carried the stories of multiple Weinstein accusers.