In the wake of bombshell allegations of sexual harassment against fallen movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, actresses including Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie have begun to talk about their own encounters with Weinstein.
The New York Times reports that Paltrow, who admits that Weinstein had a lot to do with getting her career on track, has described an incident when she was 22, just after Weinstein hired her for the lead in “Emma.”
“Before shooting began, he summoned her to his suite at the Peninsula Beverly Hills hotel for a work meeting that began uneventfully,” The Times reports. “It ended with Mr. Weinstein placing his hands on her and suggesting they head to the bedroom for massages, she said.”
The report quotes Paltrow saying: “I was a kid, I was signed up, I was petrified.”
The Times adds: “She refused his advances, she said, and confided in Brad Pitt, her boyfriend at the time. Mr. Pitt confronted Mr. Weinstein, and soon after, the producer warned her not to tell anyone else about his come-on.”
Paltrow adds: “I thought he was going to fire me.”
“Rosanna Arquette, a star of ‘Pulp Fiction,’ has a similar account of Mr. Weinstein’s behavior, as does Judith Godrèche, a leading French actress,” The Times reports. “So does Angelina Jolie, who said that during the release of ‘Playing by Heart’ in the late 1990s, he made unwanted advances on her in a hotel room, which she rejected.”
The report quotes Jolie saying in an email: “I had a bad experience with Harvey Weinstein in my youth, and as a result, chose never to work with him again and warn others when they did. This behavior towards women in any field, any country is unacceptable.”
Why have so many “stars” just now come out against Weinstein? Why have they waited? I can understand not saying something early in your career. You are afraid of being “blackballed” by Weinstein and never working again. But Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie and all these other “stars” have not had to worry about getting work for years. By not speaking out earlier they have allowed this predator to prey on countless other women. All these established “stars” that are speaking out now don’t deserve credit for speaking out, they deserve shame for not doing so earlier. We will probably never know all of the women he attempted to sexually assault over all of the years of his career.
No one should judge a woman who has been sexually harassed and chooses to come forward at a later date until they have walked in that woman’s shoes. I believe telling someone to speak up is far easier said than done; that it requires not only extraordinary courage but moreover the willingness to relive awful and denigrating experiences. Given what we have come to know about Bill Cosby, Roger Ailes, and now Harvey Weinstein, I hope more women who have been harassed, threatened and intimidated in the work place and elsewhere will come forward with their respective stories but who am i to say what they should do.