Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie Claim Harvey Weinstein Harassed Them; Hillary Clinton ‘Shocked’ By Revelations
Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie are now going on-the-record to speak out about how Harvey Weinstein sexually harassed them. In addition, Hillary Clinton has issued a statement saying she is…
Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie are now going on-the-record to speak out about how Harvey Weinstein sexually harassed them. And, after days of silence, former Sec. of State Hillary Clinton broke her silence about the frequent democratic party donor, saying in a statement that she is “Shocked and appalled” by the allegations.
The New York Times, which published a bombshell Oct. 5 report detailing decades of sexual harassment allegations leveled at the mogul, spoke to both of the actresses for a Tuesday (Oct. 10) story.
Paltrow recalls what is now become a horrifyingly familiar story, told by many of his accusers in both the Times and, as of this morning, The New Yorker: An actress — in this case, a 22-year-old Paltrow — is invited to meet Weinstein at his hotel suite where he propositions them, requests a massage or something more. For Paltrow, she had just been cast in an adaptation of Emma, playing the title role. (The film, directed by Douglas McGrath, was released in 1996.) She agreed to meet him at the Peninsula Beverly Hills, which has been frequently mentioned as one of his regular haunts in the city.
Though the meeting seemed like typical business at first, Paltrow tells the Times‘ Jodi Kantor and Rachel Abrams that the mogul suggested they go to the bedroom for massages. “I was a kid, I was signed up, I was petrified,” she said. Paltrow declined and told her then-boyfriend Brad Pitt who later confronted Weinstein, the paper reports. Weinstein then threatened Paltrow, enough to lead her to think she was going to lose her big break. “I thought he was going to fire me,” she said. Through his rep, Pitt confirmed the situation to the Times, the paper writes.
The two would continue working together and two years later, Paltrow went on to win a best actress Oscar for her work in John Madden’s Shakespeare in Love, leading many to believe that she was living a Cinderella life in Hollywood, with much of that credit being directed at Weinstein. However, Paltrow’s account shows that behind-the-scenes, her relationship with Weinstein was anything but.
Jolie went on the record with the Times via email, revealing that she, too, had an encounter with Weinstein in a hotel room around the release of her film Playing by Heart in the late 1990s. “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,” Jolie said.
Paltrow and Jolie are just two of six additional on the record accounts delivered to the Times, which was the first outlet to publish a damning expose on Weinstein’s decades-long pattern of harassment and sexual misconduct. It was followed this morning by The New Yorker‘s bombshell report by Ronan Farrow that contained far more serious allegations that Weinstein had raped several women, including actress Asia Argento who participated in the story.
The Times reports that after the newspaper’s initial story, “additional actress began sharing with the Times on the record stories of casting-couch abuses. Their accounts hint at the sweep of Mr. Weinstein’s alleged harassment, targeting women on the way to stardom, those who had barely acted and others in between.”
Weinstein, working with new spokesperson Sallie Hofmeister, denied the new round of claims. “Any allegations of non-consensual sex are unequivocally denied by Mr. Weinsten. Mr. Weinstein has further confirmed that there were never any acts of retaliation against any women for refusing his advances. He will not be available for further comments, as he is taking the time to focus on his family, on getting counseling and rebuilding his life.”
On Tuesday, Clinton joined the growing list of major stars who’ve worked with the once-untouchable producer and who’ve spoken out against Weinstein’s alleged behavior, including George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Judi Dench and Jennifer Lawrence. In a statement tweeted by her communications director, Clinton said, “I was shocked and appalled by the revelations about Harvey Weinstein. The behavior described by women coming forward cannot be tolerated.”
Statement from Secretary Clinton on Harvey Weinstein: pic.twitter.com/L1l2wl9l0I
— Nick Merrill (@NickMerrill) October 10, 2017
This article originally appeared on The Hollywood Reporter.