Disgrace of film boss Weinstein
Disgraced super-producer Harvey Weinstein is in hot water for sexual misconduct spanning decades
MOVIE moguls don’t get much bigger than Harvey Weinstein. His name is as synonymous with Hollywood as the sign hoisted on the hillside of the entertainment capital of the world and he’s behind some of the biggest movies of our time. But for years rumours of sexual harassment dogged the uber-producer. Weinstein’s wandering hands were so well known young actresses were warned to wear an extra jacket so they’d have an added layer of protection against him.
Yet decades went by and nothing happened – until one of the most spectacular falls from grace the movie industry has ever seen.
Weinstein (65), a six-time Oscar winner, has been fired from his own company after an investigation by the New York Times exposed a litany of allegations of lewd behaviour.
The newspaper’s exposé paints the picture of a man who took advantage of his position to cajole sexual favours out of up-and-coming stars and who had a penchant for taking off his clothes in front of staff and starlets.
Weinstein has apologised for his conduct but has vowed to sue the New York Times for $50 million (about R675 million), saying he wasn’t given enough time to respond to the claims.
Actresses Ashley Judd (49) and Rose McGowan (44) are two of the most high-profile names to publicly accuse Weinstein of inappropriate behaviour.
After the story broke Weinstein – who’s behind blockbusters such as Pulp Fiction, Shakespeare in Love, Silver Linings Playbook and The King’s Speech – said he wanted to “earn the forgiveness” of Ashley Judd.
But it seems there’s little chance he’ll get it – or that he’ll survive this scandal.
As ABC News put it, “His career in Hollywood, many believe, is finished.”
An invitation from Harvey Weinstein wasn’t something to be sneezed at. As one of Hollywood’s most powerful men, it was within his reach to make or break careers. So 20 years ago when Ashley Judd received an invitation from the big man to a business breakfast she didn’t think twice. She was taken aback when she arrived in the lobby of the plush Peninsula Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles to be told the studio boss was expecting her in his suite. He opened the door in his dressing gown and asked if he could give her a massage. When she refused, he suggested a shoulder rub. She rejected that too.
He then asked her to help him pick out what he should wear that day before he steered her towards the bathroom and asked if she’d mind watching him take a shower.
Ashley’s account forms part of the New York Times’ investigation exposing Weinstein as a serial sex pest.
Allegations of harassment stretch back over three decades and the probe reveals Weinstein reached settlements with at least eight women.
The women describe how they’d be summoned to a hotel or office – ostensibly for work reasons – only to discover Weinstein, who’s been married for most of the three decades in question, had racier things on his mind.
“I said no, a lot of ways, a lot of times,” Ashley says, “and he always came back at me with some new ask.”
She recalls thinking, “How do I get out of the room as fast as possible without alienating Harvey Weinstein?”
She decided to order cereal rather than a hot breakfast so she could eat and get out faster. As an escape line she quipped that if he wanted to touch her, she’d first have to win an Oscar in one of his movies. She recalled feeling “panicky,
trapped”, she told the New York Times.
In 2014 Weinstein invited temporary employee Emily Nestor to the same hotel and promised to boost her career if she accepted his sexual advances.
The following year, a female assistant claimed he coerced her into giving him a massage while he was naked, leaving her “distraught”.
This formed part of a damning memo sent in 2015 to executives of Weinstein’s company by colleague Lauren O’Connor in which she outlined sexual harassment and other misconduct by their boss.
“There is a toxic environment for women at this company,” she wrote. “I’m a 28-year-old woman trying to make a living and a career. Harvey Weinstein is a 64-year-old, world famous man and this is his company. The balance of power is me: 0, Harvey Weinstein: 10.”
Weinstein also paid actress Rose McGowan $100 000 (about R460 000 at the time) in a settlement for an unspecified episode in a hotel room during the Sundance Film Festival that took place shortly before her breakthrough role in 1996’s Scream. She was 23 at the time. He paid off Italian model Ambra Battilana (now 24) too. In 2015 he invited the aspiring actress to his New York office – supposedly to discuss her career.
Within hours she’d called the police, claiming Weinstein had grabbed her breasts after asking if they were real, then stuck his hands up her skirt, the police report says.
At the time of Lauren’s memo, Weinstein had become a Washington DC heavyweight thanks to his Hollywood connections. He hosted fundraisers for both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama and employed Obama’s elder daughter, Malia, as an intern earlier this year.
FAfter the New York Times’ exposé TV reporter Lauren Sivan came forward to reveal that Weinstein once masturbated in front of her in a restaurant, ejaculating into a pot plant. Sivan says she felt trapped, intimidated and deeply shocked. He called her up the next day to tell her he’d “had a great time”. OR now, Weinstein’s wife is standing by him. British fashion designer Georgina Chapman (41) is co-founder of the fashion label Marchesa and the mother of two of Weinstein’s children, daughter India (7) and son Dashiell (4).
The producer also has three daughters aged 22, 19 and 14 from his first marriage to Eve Chilton Weinstein. Weinstein told the Daily Mail he’s had “really tough conversations” with his family since the crisis has unfolded. “Georgina will be kicking my ass to be a better human being and to apologise to people for my bad behaviour – to say ‘I’m sorry,’ and to absolutely mean it,” he told The Daily Post. But it’s safe to say Weinstein is persona non grata in Hollywood now. High- profile lawyer Lisa Bloom resigned as his adviser in the wake of the fallout, although his attorney Charles Harder has dismissed the exposé as being “saturated with false and defamatory statements”. The New York Times is standing by its story though – and as far as Hollywood is concerned, it’s an easy story to believe. “The reporting took months and followed years of previous efforts by other journalists to nail down details of the behaviour that was roundly considered ‘an open secret’ in Hollywood,” ABC News says. “And it took years for the alleged victims, including Ashley Judd, to work up the courage to go on the record.” In the wake of the report Rose McGowan has slammed fellow actresses for staying silent over the story. Meryl Streep was initially accused, along with A-listers Nicole Kidman and Gwyneth Paltrow, for keeping quiet and offering Ashley and Rose no support. Their careers flourished thanks to Weinstein, critics said, and that was clearly more important. But Meryl subsequently spoke out, saying what the mogul had been accused of was “disgraceful” and “inexcusable” and “an abuse of power”. The women who’ve spoken out are “heroes”, she added. Yet plenty more who have worked under Weinstein – including Cate Blanchett, Julianne Moore, Angelina Jolie and Penélope Cruz – have kept quiet. And Rose called them out in a tweet. “Ladies of Hollywood,” she said, “your silence is deafening.”