Harvey Weinstein allegations mount as wife condemns actions
US - Harassment allegations against Harvey Weinstein continue to mount after his wife announced she was leaving him and his most powerful allies, including Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, expressed disgust at his actions.
Georgina Chapman, co-founder of the Marchesa luxury brand and the mother of two of Weinstein’s children, said she was ending her 10-year marriage to the disgraced producer. “My heart breaks for all the women who have suffered tremendous pain because of these unforgivable actions,” she said after three women accused her husband of rape and more stars including Angelina Jolie and Gwyneth Paltrow said he had harassed them. In a statement, Chapman, who founded Marchesa with design partner Keren Craig in 2004, added: “I have chosen to leave my husband. Caring for my young children is my first priority.” Among the latest allegations were claims that Weinstein subjected the Italian actor Asia Argento to perform acts against her will and forced the aspiring actor Lucia Evans to perform the same acts, according to a thoroughly documented article in the New Yorker.
It also published an audio tape recorded from a police wiretap placed on the Italian model Ambra Battilana Gutierrez in which Weinstein admits to groping her and asks her to join him in his hotel room while he showers. Paltrow, 45, told the New York Times that Weinstein attempted to lure her into giving him a massage in a hotel room when she was 22. Weinstein has unequivocally denied allegations of non-consensual relations but more than a dozen women have now recounted harassment by him in a mounting scandal that has cost him his marriage, his job as head of his own company, and the support of many of the most powerful figures in the US.
(Theguardian.com)