'Game of Thrones’ star Lena Headey says rejecting Harvey Weinstein hurt her career
Lena Headey, one of the earliest accusers of Harvey Weinstein, says rejecting the disgraced Hollywood bigwig caused professional harm.
Headey, who found new success as Cersei Lannister on “Game of Thrones,” has claimed that Weinstein propositioned her several times, but said in a recent interview that it took her a while to realize the effects of having said “no.”
“After he was discovered to be a slimeball, on a grander scale than me just knowing it, I did start thinking, ‘F – k, maybe because I didn’t shag him, that’s impacted a decade of my working life,’” the 45-year-old actress told the Sunday Times.
“Because I did two jobs for Miramax before those incidents, and after that there was nothing.”
More than 100 women have accused the film producer of sexual assault and harassment. Weinstein has denied accusations of non-consensual sex.
Headey accused Weinstein in October 2017 of making a “suggestive comment” to her at the 2005 Venice Film Festival, where she was doing press for “The Brothers Grimm.”
The actress, who found new success on the HBO drama, wrote on Twitter that she initially laughed off Weinstein’s remarks.
“I was genuinely shocked, I remember thinking, it’s got to be a joke, I said something like … oh come on mate?!?? It’d be like kissing my dad!!” she wrote.
The next time he allegedly propositioned her, they met for breakfast in Los Angeles to talk about work, but he kept asking her about her love life, she wrote. After returning from the restroom, Weinstein allegedly told her to go back to his hotel room with him to look at a script.
“I said to Harvey, ‘I’m not interested in anything other than work, please don’t think I got in (this elevator) with you for any other reason, nothing is going to happen,’” she wrote.
Weinstein then allegedly marched her down the hallway with his hand on her back, but was foiled when he couldn’t get his key card to work in the hotel room door.
“He walked me back to the lift, through the hotel to the valet, by grabbing and holding tightly to the back of my arm, he paid for my cars and whispered in my ear, ‘Don’t tell anyone about this, not your manager, not your agent,’” Headey wrote. “I got into my car and I cried.” A spokesman for Weinstein denied that the producer had any impact on Headey’s career.
“Lena Headey is a terrific actor with smart and resourceful agents, as her role for the past eight years on Game of Thrones confirms,” his spokesman told the Daily News. “There was never anything other than a professional and respectful relationship between Ms. Headey and Mr. Weinstein, and any other assertion is absolutely untrue.”
Weinstein’s trial in New York City, originally slated for May 6, was recently pushed back to June 3, a court official said Monday.
Weinstein faces a minimum of 10 years behind bars on the top count with which he is charged – predatory sexual assault. He’s also charged with raping a woman at a Doubletree Hotel in 2013 and accused of forcing a sex act on exproduction assistant Mimi Haleyi in 2006.
He replaced his powerhouse lawyer Ben Brafman with a new team in late January. At the time, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice James Burke indicated that he would potentially be flexible with the trial start date.