ITâS got more twists and turns than the movie scripts he produced, and Hollywoodâs latest sex scandal continues to unfold.
Decades of Sexual Harassment Accusations Against Harvey Weinstein
Two decades ago, the Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein invited Ashley Judd to the Peninsula Beverly Hills hotel for what the young actress expected to be a business breakfast meeting. Instead, he had her sent up to his room, where he appeared in a bathrobe and asked if he could give her a massage or she could watch him shower, she recalled in an interview.
Harvey Weinstein: Inside one of the most bizarre Hollywood sex scandals yet
ACTRESS Ashley Judd says she stands by her story after a Hollywood mega-producer claimed he ânever laid a hand on herâ and that she is âgoing through a tough timeâ after she made sexual allegations against him.
The sex scandal involving Harvey Weinstein â accused by âdozensâ of current and former employees of inappropriate sexual behaviour â is barging through Tinseltown like a train derailing; an out of control mess of twisted stories and blame games.
As the chips start to fall for the once legendary mega-producer, the most powerful of the glitterati are banding together in what is fast becoming one of the biggest scandals in recent Hollywood history.
In just hours, the story has already seen twists and turns that could be ripped straight out of a movie script.
Weinstein is the co-chairman of The Weinstein Company and co-founder of Miramax Films. The companies produced favourites including My Week with Marilyn, starring Michelle Williams, the Scream franchise, Pulp Fiction and Shakespeare in Love.
Heâs scooped six best-picture Oscars while and his career has spanned from movies to television; Project Runway is his most popular reality-hit.
His public life includes humanitarian work with a range of charities, heâs supported Hillary Clinton and employed Malia Obama as an intern. He even marched in a womenâs march at the Sundance Film Festival in January.
But with actor Ashley Judd leading the battle along with a line-up of other famous faces and former employees, it has forced the Oscar-winner to take a leave of absence from his own company just hours after the New York Times published its salacious expose.
Though Ms. OâConnor had been writing only about a two-year period, her memo echoed other womenâs complaints. Mr. Weinstein required her to have casting discussions with aspiring actresses after they had private appointments in his hotel room, she said, her description matching those of other former employees. She suspected that she and other female Weinstein employees, she wrote, were being used to facilitate liaisons with âvulnerable women who hope he will get them work.â
The allegations piled up even as Mr. Weinstein helped define popular culture. He has collected six best-picture Oscars and turned out a number of touchstones, from the films âSex, Lies, and Videotape,â âPulp Fictionâ and âGood Will Huntingâ to the television show âProject Runway.â In public, he presents himself as a liberal lion, a champion of women and a winner of not just artistic but humanitarian awards.
In 2015, the same year Ms. OâConnor wrote her memo, his company distributed âThe Hunting Ground,â a documentary about campus sexual assault. A longtime Democratic donor, he hosted a fund-raiser for Hillary Clinton in his Manhattan home last year. He employed Malia Obama, the oldest daughter of former President Barack Obama, as an intern this year, and recently helped endow a faculty chair at Rutgers University in Gloria Steinemâs name. During the Sundance Film Festival in January, when Park City, Utah, held its version of the nationwide womenâs marches, Mr. Weinstein joined the parade.
âCoercive Bargainingâ
For actors, a meeting with Mr. Weinstein could yield dazzling rewards: scripts, parts, award campaigns, magazine coverage, influence on lucrative endorsement deals. He knew how to blast small films to box office success, and deliver polished dramas like âThe Kingâs Speechâ and popular attractions like the âScary Movieâ franchise. Mr. Weinsteinâs films helped define femininity, sex and romance, from Catherine Zeta-Jones in âChicagoâ to Jennifer Lawrence in âSilver Linings Playbook.â
Increased Scrutiny
WEINSTEINâS WIFE POSTS ON INSTAGRAM
As the scandal detailing her famous millionaire husbandâs alleged sexually abusive career spanning the last three decades hit the press, Weinsteinâs wife hit post on Instagram.
But it wasnât surrounding the incoming storm that would rain down upon her husbandâs reputation.
Instead there she was, at Canoe Studios in Manhattan, launching her own bridal wear collection.
At what The Cut says was âalmost the exact same time that The Times hit publishâ on its story over her husband of ten years, Georgina Chapman plunged forward.
It didnât take long for the comments to turn.
âYour husband is disgusting and every single famous woman who has stood by as this happened to others has dirty hands,â one wrote in reply.
âWhy is Harvey harassing women?â Another asked.
âYour husband is disgusting and every single famous woman who has stood by as this happened to others has dirty hands,â one wrote in reply.
âWhy is Harvey harassing women?â Another asked.
âReally? Selling women on your marriage values? Youâre no less a swine than him.â