Paltrow and Jolie claim they were victims of movie mogul
♦hollywood stars allege Weinstein harassed them ♦other actresses claim they were raped and assaulted
GWYNETH PALTROW and Angelina Jolie have come forward to allege that Harvey Weinstein, the disgraced movie mogul, sexually harassed them when they were young actresses.
The 65-year-old film producer was also accused of rape by three other women in an exposé in The New Yorker magazine.
The new claims mark a significant escalation of a scandal that has engulfed Hollywood. Weinstein has been dismissed from his own company following a series of allegations, while several leading names in film have spoken out against him.
Both Paltrow and Jolie described how the producer, who was instrumental in launching Paltrow’s career, made unwanted advances towards them in hotel rooms. And, in the same article in The New York Times, five other women went on the record to allege sexual assault or harassment at the hands of Weinstein, who has vehemently denied the claims and said all his sexual relations were consensual.
Weinstein also denied claims by the actresses Rosanna Arquette and Mira Sorvino that he damaged their careers after they rejected his advances.
The New Yorker also published an audio tape, apparently of a conversation between Weinstein and an Italian model from 2015, in which it seems he is heard confessing to sexual assault.
Paltrow was 22 when Weinstein hired her for her breakthrough lead role in an adaptation of Jane Austen’s
Emma. Before filming she was asked to visit his suite at the Peninsula Beverly Hills hotel for a work meeting, Paltrow said. She said he then attempted to encourage her into his bedroom for massages. The actress said: “I was a kid, I was signed up, I was petrified. I thought you were my Uncle Harvey.”
Paltrow refused and confided in her then boyfriend, Brad Pitt, who later confronted Weinstein and told him never to touch her again. The actress said Weinstein yelled at her for telling Pitt and she thought she would be fired. She said: “He screamed at me for a long time. It was brutal. I was expected to keep the secret.”
Paltrow’s account was echoed by Jolie, who said Weinstein made unwanted advances to her in a hotel room during the release of Playing by Heart in the late Nineties. She rejected him.
Jolie said: “I had a bad experience with Harvey Weinstein in my youth, and as a result, chose never to work with him again and warn others when they did.
“This behaviour towards women in any field, any country, is unacceptable.”
Weinstein started the careers of a host of stars and counted notable people such as the Clintons and Obamas as friends.
Barack Obama, broke his silence in a statement last night. The former president said he and wife Michelle were “disgusted by the recent reports”. It added: “Any man who demeans and degrades women in such fashion needs to be condemned and held accountable, regardless
of wealth and status.” And, in her first comment on the reports, a “shocked” Hillary Clinton said: “The behaviour described by women coming forward cannot be tolerated. Their courage and the support of others is critical in helping stop this behaviour.”
Amid claims that Weinstein’s behaviour was an open secret in Hollywood, George Clooney, who also got his first big break from the producer, said: “I’ve never seen any of this behaviour – ever ... if you’re asking if I knew that someone who was very powerful had a tendency to hit on young, beautiful women... sure.” But he had “no idea”
that “women were threatened”. Ben Affleck, another Weinstein protégé, said he felt “sick” at the reports while Matt Damon, a long-time film collaborator of Weinstein’s, said: “I did five or six movies with Harvey. I never saw this. I just feel absolutely sick to my stomach.”
In the article in The New Yorker, Asia Argento, an Italian actress best known for the action film xxx, along with a former aspiring actress, Lucia Evans, alleged Weinstein forced himself on them. A third woman, who said Weinstein raped her, declined to be named.
Arquette claimed that in the early Nineties she went to pick up a script at the Beverly Hills Hotel, arriving at Weinstein’s room to find him in a bathrobe and asking for a massage. She claimed he then tried to forcibly initiate a sexual encounter and, when she refused, named another actress who had advanced her career that way. Arquette said she told him: “I’ll never be that girl.”
The article was written by Ronan Farrow, the son of Mia Farrow and Woody Allen, who said it was the result of a 10-month investigation. Farrow said he spoke to 13 women who claimed Weinstein harassed or assaulted them between 1990 and 2015. Some of those incidents overlapped with eight allegations of sexual harassment reported by The New York Times last week, all of which resulted in financial settlements.
Argento said she was 21 when she was invited to a studio party on the French Riviera in 1997. She said Weinstein was the only one there and changed into a bathrobe before asking her to give him a massage. She said he forced himself on her and that she was “terrified”.
Sorvino said Weinstein came to her hotel room and she got him to leave by saying her new boyfriend was arriving. On the effect upon her career she said: “I definitely felt iced out.”
A spokesman for Weinstein said: “Any allegations of non-consensual sex are unequivocally denied ... Mr Weinstein believes that all of these relationships were consensual.” The statement stresed that “there were never any acts of retaliation against any women for refusing his advances”, and it added: “Mr Weinstein has begun counselling, has listened to the community, and is pursuing a better path.”
Last night his wife, British fashion designer Georgina Chapman, said she was leaving him. She told People magazine: “My heart breaks for all the women who have suffered tremendous pain.”