TheNew York Timesreporters who uncovered allegations of sexual abuse againstHarvey Weinsteinare praisingGwyneth Paltrowfor being the first actress willing to talk to them.
Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor, the reporters who first broke the story,appeared on theTodayshowto talk about their new book,She Said, recounting their investigation that played a role in his downfall and ushered in the rise of the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements. The women helped publish the accusations of assault, with Paltrow, Ashley Judd andAngelina Jolieamong the first actresses to publicly come forward with varying allegations.
“I think that many people will be surprised to discover that when so many other actresses were reluctant to get on the phone and scared to tell the truth about what they had experienced at his hands, that Gwyneth was actually one of the first people to get on the phone and that she was determined to help this investigation, even when Harvey Weinstein showed up to a party at her house early and she was sort of forced to hide in the bathroom,” Twohey said on theTodayshow.
“I think Harvey Weinstein was extremely aware and extremely scared of what the implications would be if his biggest star actually ended up going on the record,” she added.
In the originalNew York Timesreportfrom October 2017, Paltrow said Weinstein sexually harassed her in a hotel room after the movie mogul hired her for the lead role inEmmawhen she was 22. The encounter allegedly ended with Weinstein placing his hands on her and suggesting a massage.
“I was a kid, I was signed up, I was petrified,” she told theNYT.
Nicholas Hunt/Getty; Alexander Koerner/Getty
The Oscar winner said she told her then-boyfriendBrad Pittabout the incident and the actor reportedly confronted Weinstein at a film premiere, telling him to never touch Paltrow again. The producer then called her and threatened her not to speak to anyone else about it, Paltrow told theNYT.
“I thought he was going to fire me,” she said. “He screamed at me for a long time. It was brutal.”
After 1996’sEmma,the actress worked with Weinstein again for 1998’sShakespeare in Lovefor which she won the Oscar for Best Actress the following year.
Weinstein isset to go to trialin January 2020 for charges of rape, predatory sexual assault and criminal sexual act based on the accusations of two women, according toThe Washington Post.
source: people.com
