The flood gates seem to have opened. Minutes after the New Yorker published an article from Ronan Farrow on Tuesday detailing more allegations of sexual harassment and sexual assault against Harvey Weinstein, a new report from the New York Times includes two of the highest-profile women yet to come forward with stories about their experiences with the powerful producer. In the follow-up to the Times’ exposé from this past Thursday, Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie, and five other women have come forward claiming that Weinstein made unwanted sexual advances toward them.
The Times’ new report leads with a description of an encounter between Paltrow and Weinstein that allegedly took place when Paltrow was 22. Her story is similar to those from other women describing encounters with Weinstein: Paltrow had been hired as the lead in Emma when she says she was called up to Weinstein’s suite at the Peninsula Beverly Hills hotel. Once there, Paltrow says, Weinstein “plac[ed] his hands on her and suggest[ed] they head to the bedroom for massages.”
“I was a kid, I was signed up, I was petrified,” Paltrow told the Times. She confided in her then-boyfriend Brad Pitt, she said, who in turn confronted Weinstein. (A representative for Pitt confirmed this account to the Times.) Paltrow said that she believed she would be fired and that Weinstein “warned her not to tell anyone else about his come-on.” She said she decided to speak up now because “we’re at a point in time when women need to send a clear message that this is over.”
Angelina Jolie also emailed the Times about a hotel room encounter that also took place in the ’90s during the release of Playing by Heart. “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,” she wrote.
Weinstein spokesperson Sallie Hofmeister released a statement on Tuesday, which said:
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. 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.
In addition to Paltrow and Jolie, the report also includes additional accusations from five more women speaking on the record: actors Rosanna Arquette, Katherine Kendall, Judith Godrèche, and Dawn Dunning, as well as Tomi-Ann Roberts, a psychology professor at Colorado College and former aspiring actress. Roberts said that experience partly led her to her current area of study, researching sexual objectification.
