These are all the women who say they were sexually assaulted or intimidated by Harvey Weinstein http://ift.tt/2ygi6Ey

http://ift.tt/2ygi6Ey These are all the women who say they were sexually assaulted or intimidated by Harvey Weinstein

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harvey weinstein Alexander Koerner/Getty Images

It has been a week since The New York Times published allegations of sexual assault against Harvey Weinstein. Since then, there has been an avalanche of accusations levelled at the movie mogul.

More than 26 women have come forward with accounts of encounters they have had with Weinstein. Their allegations range from rape, to indecent exposure, and intimidation.

Business Insider has collected their stories below, starting with the most serious claims against Weinstein, who was fired by his own company this week.

Weinstein has "unequivocally denied" all allegations of "non-consensual sex" and said there "were never any acts of retaliation" against women who refused his advances.

In a statement to The New Yorker, a spokeswoman added: "With respect to any women who have made allegations on the record, Mr. Weinstein believes that all of these relationships were consensual." Talking to photographers on Wednesday, Weinstein said: "We all make mistakes, second chance I hope."

These are all the women who say they were sexually assaulted or intimidated by Harvey Weinstein.

Note: Where images of the women were not readily available, or their accounts are anonymised, we have used silhouetted stock photos, which are clearly captioned. These stock photos do not depict the woman making the allegations.

Asia Argento, actress/director

Andreas Rentz / Getty

Italian actress and director Asia Argento told The New Yorker that Weinstein forced oral sex on her 20 years ago in a hotel room.

Weinstein "terrified me, and he was so big," she said. "It wouldn’t stop. It was a nightmare." She said she eventually pretended to enjoy the assault with the hope that doing so would make it end sooner.

Argento added that she did not speak out until now because she was scared Weinstein would "crush" her.

"I know he has crushed a lot of people before," Argento told the publication in an interview. "That’s why this story — in my case, it’s 20 years old, some of them are older — has never come out."

In 2000, she wrote and directed "Scarlet Diva," a film which includes a scene that’s similar to the experience she allegedly had with Weinstein.

The character Argento plays, Anna, is cornered in a hotel room by a heavyset producer who asks her for a massage and tries to assault her. She said that after the movie was released, other women recognised that the character was a portrayal of Weinstein.

After The New Yorker story went live, Argento posted the scene to Twitter:

Weinstein reportedly saw the movie when it was released in the US and recognised himself, saying, "ha, ha, very funny," but adding that he was "sorry for whatever happened."

Lucia Stoller (now Lucia Evans), former actress

Hongmei Zhao / Unsplash

An aspiring actress and college student in 2004, Lucia Stoller gave Weinstein her number at a club in New York. According to The New Yorker, he started calling her late at night asking to meet, offers which she declined.

She eventually met Weinstein at the Miramax office in New York City during the day. She told The New York she found him frightening. "The type of control he exerted, it was very real. Even just his presence was intimidating."

He told her about two scripts, and said one of his associated would discuss them with her. After both demeaning and complimenting her (including telling her she should lose weight), he forced her to perform oral sex on him.

"I said, over and over, ‘I don’t want to do this, stop, don’t,’" Stoller told The New Yorker. "I tried to get away, but maybe I didn’t try hard enough. I didn’t want to kick him or fight him. He’s a big guy. He overpowered me. I just sort of gave up. That’s the most horrible part of it, and that’s why he’s been able to do this for so long to so many women: People give up, and then they feel like it’s their fault."

She said that she later met with the female casting executive, who sent her the scripts. She does not believe the executive was aware of the encounter. Weinstein began calling her again late at night.

Though she told friends part of the story, she said she felt unable to talk about it.

Cara Delevingne, model and actress

Chris Jackson/ Getty Images

Delevigne released a statement on Wednesday to journalist Yashar Ali, which he then tweeted. In the statement, she details Weinstein’s alleged behaviour towards her.

When Delevigne was in the press for her relationships with woman, she claims Weinstein called her and told her "that if I was gay or decided to be with a woman especially in public that I’d never get roles as a straight woman or make it as an actress in Hollywood."

Years later, Delevingne said she had a meeting with Weinstein and an unnamed director about an upcoming film, while was likely either "Paper Towns" or "Tulip Fever," both produced by the Weinstein Company.

"As soon as we were alone he decided to brag about all of the actresses he had slept with and how he had made their careers and spoke about other things of a sexual nature," she wrote.

She said he then asked her to go up to his room with him. His assistant allegedly told her her car would be a while, and suggested she go with him.

Feeling scared, she went, and found another woman in the room. She said Weinstein asked Delevingne to kiss the woman. When she said she had to leave, she claims Weinstein blocked the door and tried to kiss her on the lips, though she managed to stop him and escape the room.

"I still got the part for the film and always thought that he gave it to me because of what happened," her statement read. "Since then I felt awful that I did the movie. I felt like I didn’t deserve the part."

She added that she didn’t speak out previously because she didn’t want to hurt his family and that she was afraid.

She concluded: "In every industry and especially in Hollywood, men abuse their power using fear and get away with it. This must stop. The more we talk about it, the less power we give them. I urge you all to talk and to the people who defend these men, you are part of the problem."

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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October 12, 2017 at 09:42AM