E! unleashes in ‘Citizen Rose’
Rose McGowan is bringing her activism to your TV screen.
The actress and activist has become a prominent figure in the movement against sexual harassment and violence that burst into the national conversation after the downfall of movie producer Harvey Weinstein and other prominent men. And her new E! documentary series, Citizen Rose, takes a closer look at her efforts.
The series, premiering Tuesday (8 ET/ PT) with a two-hour special and returning with four more episodes this spring, is a mix of biography, personal statements and a recent history of the Me Too movement. McGowan began work on the series before the first stories about Weinstein were published in October.
Here are five things to know from an early version of the emotional special:
1 The series is about her life in addition to her activism.
McGowan explores her upbringing, including being born into the cult Children of God and her complicated relationship with her father.
2 The series doesn’t mention Harvey Weinstein by name.
McGowan has accused the disgraced movie mogul of rape, and although the series talks about him repeatedly, including McGowan’s own remembrances and news clips of his downfall after exposés in The New York Times and the
New Yorker in October. But McGowan simply refers to him as “the monster” (except on one occasion), and the series blacks out his name in written text and distorts it when others say it.
3 She talks about the day she says Weinstein assaulted her.
McGowan speaks at the beginning of the episode about the day in 1997 that she says she was raped by Weinstein, describing, as in other accounts, going to a meeting at a hotel and being told it had been moved upstairs to his room. She says she recalls saying just before the meeting, “I think my life is finally getting easier.” (Weinstein has denied accusations of non-consensual sex.)
4 She explains why she took issue with this year’s Golden Globes.
McGowan made headlines in December when she criticized actresses who planned to wear black to the Golden Globes in solidarity with the Me Too movement. A tweet from her read: “actresses, like Meryl Streep, who happily worked for The Pig Monster, are wearing black @GoldenGlobes in a silent protest. YOUR SILENCE is THE problem. You’ll accept a fake award breathlessly & (effect) no real change. I despise your hypocrisy. Maybe you should all wear Marchesa.” (A reference to Weinstein’s now-estranged wife’s fashion line.)
Although she later apologized, McGowan explains in a comment later edited from the special: “I wanted to tell the truth about why the Golden Globes were there, what it means,” suggesting Weinstein is responsible for the Globes’ prominence in the awards campaign season. “So while it may seem small — oh, it’s just a dress at the Golden Globes — there’s a lot of layers.”
5 She documents her arrest in Virginia.
In November, a months-old arrest warrant for McGowan for cocaine-possession charges came to light. She claimed then (and now, in the series) that it’s related to her accusation against Weinstein. In one scene, McGowan meets with Ronan Farrow — who reported on a network of private investigators and spies, including some former Mossad agents, that Weinstein employed while trying to keep accusations against him under wraps — to discuss his investigation. The series also shows McGowan on her way to a court appearence and discussing her mugshot.