Loose Women break their silence
After US producer Harvey Weinstein was toppled from power following abuse allegations, a Pandora’s box of accusations has opened in Britain…
Over the last two weeks on Loose Women, it’s become clear that it wasn’t only the Hollywood stars who felt they couldn’t speak out about predators like Harvey Weinstein - the silent epidemic of sexual abuse was far wider and always much closer to home...
After the hashtag #metoo began trending on Twitter, we were shocked by the numbers of UK women coming forward to say they had suffered in silence. Alice Evans, married to Liar star Ioan Gruffudd, was one of the first to claim she downplayed an encounter with Weinstein in 2002. Appearing on GMB, the star said she feared speaking out might scupper her career, and her husband’s, after she rejected Weinstein’s invitation to join him in the bathroom.
Hours later, Loose Women’s Lisa Riley revealed she was also propositioned in a hotel bar by another Hollywood film boss, while working on a film in her early 20s.
The now 41-year-old recalled, ‘I went to the bathroom, came back, looked at my cigarette box, and there was a three-digit number on it. I said to my friend, “What’s that?” and she said, “It’s his room number.”
‘I said, “He’s married with three children,” and she went, “It’s the norm – everybody does it,” and I said, “This girl doesn’t!”’
Another Loose Woman, Sir Rod Stewart’s wife Penny Lancaster, teared up as she explained live on-air that, one night as a teenager, she believes her drink was spiked and she was sexually assaulted.
Adding that she’d gone to this man’s house as he’d promised to take her to an event with ‘industry figures’, she explained, ‘I can’t remember much of what happened. I just know he was on top of me and enjoying the experience, but I certainly wasn’t. I don’t really remember much more and I was too afraid to tell anyone.’
Even the fiery Janet StreetPorter opened up about an incident at the start of her TV career. ‘I remember sitting at dinner with a top agent – my husband at the other end of the table – when the guy leant across and offered me plenty of work if I would give him the occasional “sexual favour”.’
As Janet added, ‘Harvey Weinstein may be the ogre of the moment, but that kind of behaviour is replicated every hour of every day in the workplace, on public transport and even in the home.’
Last week, three actresses – including EastEnders’ Debbie Arnold – claimed that producer Michael Winner demanded to see their breasts during auditions. The stories have been denied by his widow, but it leaves us wondering how many of us put unwelcome advances by powerful men down to ‘that’s just how it was in the 70s, 80s and 90s’?
We’re pleased these women are finally standing up to say enough is enough.
‘Weinstein is the ogre of the moment but that behaviour is replicated every day’