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Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow, and other women share their stories of being sexually harassed by film producer Harvey Weinstein in a new report by the New York Times today. Their accounts arrive less than a week after the paper broke an investigative report on Weinstein’s decades-long history of sexual assault.
Paltrow was 22 years old and recently hired by Weinstein to star in Emma, which premiered in 1996, when he made advances towards her. The Times reports: “Before shooting began, he summoned her to his suite at the Peninsula Beverly Hills hotel for a work meeting that began uneventfully. It ended with Mr. Weinstein placing his hands on her and suggesting they head to the bedroom for massages, she said.”
Paltrow refused his advances, however. “I was a kid, I was signed up, I was petrified,” she told NYT. She confided in her boyfriend at the time, Brad Pitt (whom she datedfrom 1994-1997) about the exchange. Pitt confronted Weinstein, but the producer threatened Paltrow not to tell anyone else.
“I thought he was going to fire me,” she added.
Fellow Oscar-winner Angelina Jolie told the Times about a similar experience she had with the producer in the late ’90s, around the time that her film Playing by Heart released. Weinstein had “made unwanted advances on her in a hotel room, which she rejected,” the paper reports.
“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,” Jolie told the Times via email. “This behavior towards women in any field, any country is unacceptable.”
In addition to Paltrow and Jolie, other women—including actresses Rosanna Arquette, Katherine Kendall, Judith Godrèche, and Dawn Dunning, and psychology professor Tomi-Ann Roberts (who acted in college)—also shared their experiences of sexual harassment from Weinstein in the NYT piece.
Their statements arrive shortly after The New Yorker published several disturbing accounts from Weinstein’s accusers, which included allegations of rape. A spokesperson from Weinstein responded to the article with the following statement:
“Any allegations of non-consensual sex are unequivocally denied by Mr. Weinstein. Mr. Weinstein has further confirmed that there were never any acts of retaliation against any women for refusing his advances. Mr. Weinstein obviously can’t speak to anonymous allegations, but with respect to any women who have made allegations on the record, Mr. Weinstein believes that all of these relationships were consensual. Mr. Weinstein has begun counseling, has listened to the community and is pursuing a better path. Mr. Weinstein is hoping that, if he makes enough progress, he will be given a second chance.”
In her interview with the Times, Paltrow points out that Weinstein’s scandal also points to a bigger issue—that sexual harassment must be stopped. “We’re at a point in time when women need to send a clear message that this is over,” she said. “This way of treating women ends now.”
