Los Angeles, March 11 – Disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein has responded to the allegations made by actress Gwyneth Paltrow nearly a decade ago.
Paltrow's allegations against him helped trigger the global #MeToo movement, according to ‘Female First UK’.
Weinstein, 73, the former film producer who was convicted of sex crimes in cases brought in New York and California, made these comments in an interview conducted from custody with ‘The Hollywood Reporter’, claiming he “won’t forgive” Paltrow for publicly discussing an encounter she said occurred early in her career. The former film producer is currently awaiting a retrial after an appeals court overturned his New York conviction, ruling that testimony presented during the original trial was prejudicial.
He discussed allegations made by Gwyneth Paltrow, now 53, who said she was 22 when the then-producer allegedly made an unwanted advance during a meeting related to a film role.
According to ‘Female First UK’, Paltrow was among dozens of women who publicly accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct in 2017, accusations that helped ignite the #MeToo movement.
Weinstein said, “I don’t know what drove her to do what she did. To make such a big deal over nothing. I walked out of a nice meeting with her and said, ‘How about a massage? And she just went, ‘No, I don’t think so’. “I got the message. I never put my hands on her. She told Brad Pitt. “Brad Pitt came to me and said, ‘Don’t do anything like that with my girl’. I said, ‘Don’t worry, Brad. I got it’. But then Gwyneth goes on Howard Stern and and makes a big deal about it all. She knows that nothing happened. But this person who was a friend, who owes her career to me, just stabs me in the back. She wanted to be part of the crowd. I won’t forgive her for that”.
Paltrow previously said the incident took place after a meeting in a hotel room during the early stages of her acting career. She added that she rejected the alleged advance and later told her then-boyfriend Brad Pitt, 62, about the encounter. Paltrow later described how Brad confronted Weinstein at the opening night of the play Hamlet on Broadway in 1995.
She told Howard Stern that her ‘Fight Club’ actor partner pushed Weinstein against a wall and warned him, “If you ever make her feel uncomfortable again, I’ll kill you”.
Paltrow said she had little power at the time of the incident but later decided to speak publicly about the alleged behaviour as part of a wider reckoning within the film industry.
She said, “I was expected to keep the secret. We’re at a point in time when women need to send a clear message that this is over. This way of treating women ends now”.
Paltrow had worked with Weinstein on the film Shakespeare in Love, which he produced through Miramax.