Thorny issue

Rose Mcgowan, one of the first women to make public allegations of sexual assault against Harvey Weinstein, has become a lightning rod for the #Metoo movement. The writer and campaigner talks to Janet Christie about misogyny and movies ahead of her Edinbu

Rose Mcgowan talks to Janet Christie about her role in the #Metoo movement and fighting misogyny in Hollywood

If there’s one word that sums up activist, former actor, director, author, model and singer, Rose Mcgowan, one of the first to publicly speak out against disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, now accused of sexual assault and harassment by more than 90 women, it’s ‘brave’. Brave ,the title of her memoir and manifesto is a call to arms for us all to wake up to the misogyny of the entertainment industry and beyond, her bid to give voice to the victims of sexism and violence and to join her Rose Army of free thinkers striving to make things better and reclaim their lives.

Set for the Edinburgh International Book Festival, Mcgowan comes on the phone from London, excited about her appearance and keen to spread the word.

Raw and revealing, the book follows Mcgowan from a childhood growing up in the Children of God cult, to Hollywood and movies, through her relationships with rocker Marilyn Manson and director Robert Rodriguez, through her alleged attack by Weinstein and its aftermath, to her reawakening and speaking out.

Articulate and intelligent, she responds to questions without equivocation. This Rose is attractive and friendly, yet she has thorns.

“It’s about getting braver in our lives by at least 10 per cent – I think that’s a do-able number. We sweep things under the rug because we’re too scared to confront them, but I’m here to tell you if you just go through it, if you look at the wound you can clean it, don’t let it fester, let it heal then you can have a free life. But if you continually cover the sore and pretend it’s not there, it will eat away at you. Bravery isn’t just you being brave out in the world, it’s also with yourself.”

In Brave, Mcgowan says the alleged attack by Weinstein happened in his hotel suite at the 1997 Sundance Film Festival when she was invited there after a screening of her film Going All the Way. Mcgowan says he later contacted her but she rebuffed his advances and after accepting a payment of $100,000, which she says she took as an acknowledgment of what had taken place, she says she was blacklisted by Weinstein and her career sidelined.

She doesn’t name him in her book, she’s taken back control and won’t have “The Monster’s” name in it – today she calls him “that warthog from hell”. Of his refusal to acknowledge what she says happened, she says simply, “Of course. Which just makes you feel terrible. Every time his lawyers say ‘consensual’ it gives me a body flashback and makes me sick to my stomach, consensual my ass. Like I would ever let that warthog from hell touch me. I wish he would cease to exist. I just wish he was not on the planet anymore, just cease.”

Mcgowan had always spoken about the alleged attack privately, but her battle against Hollywood became public when she discovered the power of Twitter in 2015. After receiving a casting note for an audition for an Adam Sandler film that suggested she wear a form fitting top, push up bra and show some cleavage, she rolled her eyes, posted it on Twitter and went to bed. In the morning she woke up to an internet storm of support, calling out Hollywood’s sexism.

Did she think ‘oh brilliant’, or ‘oh no, what have I done?’

She laughs, “Kind of both. At first I thought ‘oh no’, then I thought actually that’s brilliant, then I thought ‘oh no’ again. It’s very strange when things go viral and you’re in people’s heads, on their phones, it’s powerful and weird and nice being on the other side of it.”

Silenced in the world of Hollywood, the internet was an arena in which Mcgowan found her voice.

“There was no way to speak out if someone was controlling the media and dominating it. But they can’t control the internet, you have your freedom and your access route.”

So when Fox promoted the new X-men film with an image of Jennifer Lawrence being strangled, she published online an open letter of objection, part of a backlash against the promotion that saw it withdrawn. Writing in her book she says, “I felt an obligation to be a voice for women, people who had suffered from violence.”