Afraid and ashamed
Asia’s accuser speaks out as secret texts revealed
The former child star who was allegedly sexually assaulted by Asia Argento when he was a teen broke his silence Wednesday as text messages emerged showing the Italian actress apparently admitting to the deed.
Jimmy Bennett, now 22, said in a statement that he’d been “ashamed and afraid” to speak out about the ordeal — and that’s why he quietly sought a cash settlement from the older thespian.
“I have not made a public statement in the past days and hours because I was ashamed and afraid to be part of the public narrative,” Bennett wrote.
“At the time I believed there was still a stigma to being in the situation as a male in our society. I didn’t think that people would understand the event that took place from the eyes of a teenage boy.”
Bennett spoke out just hours after TMZ published explosive texts in which Argento allegedly told a friend that she had had sex with Bennett — contradicting her public statements to the contrary — but claimed she didn’t know he was underage and that he “jumped” her.
“I had sex with him it felt weird. I didn’t know he was a minor until the shakedown letter,” Argento allegedly wrote to a friend. “The horny kid jumped me . . . I wasn’t raped but I was frozen. He was on top of me. After, he told me I had been his sexual fantasy since was 12.”
A bombshell report published Sunday first alleged that Argento paid $380,000 to Bennett — who played her son in a movie at age 7 — after he accused her of violating him in 2013 when he was 17 and she was 37.
The alleged incident took place in a hotel room in California, where the age of consent is 18.
Then, on Tuesday, the now-42year-old actress insisted she never had “any sexual relationship” with Bennett but said her late boyfriend, Anthony Bourdain (below), agreed to pay him hush money to avoid bad press.
A photo also published by TMZ on Tuesday appears to show Argento and Bennett topless in bed. Argento allegedly claimed to her friend that the snap isn’t incriminating.
“You can see my t-ts,” she wrote. “That’s all.”
Argento also reportedly texted her friend a letter she said Bennett gave to her afterward.
“I love you with all my heart. So glad we met again and I’m so glad your in my life. Jimmy,” reads the note scrawled on Ritz-Carlton stationery.
Argento then claims Bennett sent “unsolicited nudes” to her for years afterward — until a few weeks before his lawyers reached out demanding a payout, according to TMZ.
“I didn’t report because I always felt bad for this Hollywood failed child actor, a casualty of the machine, of his parents,” she allegedly texted. “I have 80 pages on him by a PI that Anthony hired.”
Bennett reportedly sought a settlement after Argento became one of the firstrst women to publicly accusese producer Harvey Weinsteinstein of sexual assault lastast year — kicking off thehe #MeToo movement.
In his statement,ment, Bennett says her accusations brought up memoriesemories of his own trauma.
“Many brave women and men have spoken out about their own experiencesces during the #MeToo move-movement, and I ap- p- preciate the bravery that it took for each and every one of them to take such a stand. I did not initially speak out about my story because I chose to handle it in private with the person who wronged me,” he wrote. “My trauma resurfaced as she came out as a victim herself.” The LA County Sheriff ’s Department said Tuesday that Bennett never reported the alleged assault, butbut it is “attempting tto reach out” to him now. Several of AArgento’s co-accusers have weighed in on theth situationtion in recent days.d Actresstress Ashley Judd,Jud who claims WeinsteinW tanked her careercare after she rejected his sexual advances, tweeted:tweeted “Sexualual violence is wrowrong, full stop.
at the very heart of the #MeToo movement,” she wrote. “We hold any and every abuser accountable, regardless of their gender, race, socioeconomic status, public visibility or popularity.”
Weinstein’s lawyer, meanwhile, has accused Argento of being a hypocrite who had been outed as a “liar and a fraud.”
The movie mogul, who denies any wrongdoing, was charged with alleged rape and serial sexual assault earlier this year.
Amid the scandal, Argento backed out of a gig curating a Dutch music festival, the event’s organizers announced Wednesday.
“Due to the volatile nature of the accusations surrounding Ms. Argento, she has chosen to withdraw from her curatorship of this year’s edition, while these issues remain open,” the Le Guess Who? festival wrote in a statement.
Argento’s lawyer didn’t return a request for comment.