Multiple women have accused Mark Halperin, a veteran journalist who co-wrote the book Game Change about the 2008 presidential election, of sexually harassing them while he worked at ABC News, according to a CNN report.
Five women told CNN’s Oliver Darcy that Halperin propositioned employees while he was in a powerful position at ABC. Three women accused Halperin of pressing his genitals against them while clothed, and one said he grabbed her breasts against her will. He has denied those allegations to CNN.
An additional two women accused Halperin of sexual misconduct as news of the allegations spread. Reporter Emily Miller said on Twitter late Wednesday that she too was assaulted while working as a junior employee at ABC, but did not elaborate on her story. Another journalist, who spoke to The Daily Beast anonymously to speak candidly, said that Halperin made unwanted advances towards her more than a decade ago that were “just shameless.” Both women told the Beast their accounts were separate to those reported by CNN.
One woman came forward publicly with her allegations of sexual misconduct in The Washington Post.
Dianna Goldberg told the newspaper she worked as a researcher at ABC News in 1994 when Halperin asked her to sit on his lap while they were in his office. Goldberg, who now goes by her married name, May, said she reluctantly complied, fearing repercussions to her career if she ignored Halperin’s request. She said he made similar requests on several subsequent occasions.
Halperin told CNN in a statement Wednesday night: “During this period, I did pursue relationships with women that I worked with, including some junior to me. I now understand from these accounts that my behavior was inappropriate and caused others pain. For that, I am deeply sorry and I apologize.
“Under the circumstances, I’m going to take a step back from my day-to-day work while I properly deal with this situation.”
Halperin, 52, has held several senior positions at many prestigious news outlets, most recently as senior political analyst for NBC News and MSNBC. He stepped down from his role at NBC pending investigation of the incidents, the network said in a statement.
Savannah Guthrie briefly mentioned the report Thursday on NBC’s “Today” show. Mika Brzezinski, who hosts MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” also addressed the allegations on air. Halperin has been a frequent guest on the show.
“CNN is reporting allegations regarding our friend Mark Halperin over a decade ago, unnamed sources detailing unwanted advances and inappropriate behavior,” Brzezinski said during Thursday’s episode. “Halperin apologized for the pain his actions caused... we will be following this story as it develops. I’m sure we will be talking about it again when we know more about it.”
The women in the CNN report, who asked the outlet to keep their identities private, did not report Halperin to ABC management out of fear of retribution. None of the women told the outlet that Halperin threatened to retaliate against them or promised anything in exchange for sex.
“Mark left ABC News over a decade ago, and no complaints were filed during his tenure,” ABC News told CNN in a statement.
Game Change was published in 2010, and two years later was turned into an HBO film starring Julianne Moore as former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. The network said Thursday afternoon that it would no longer proceed with making a film about the 2016 presidential election based on a book written by Halperin and John Heilemann.
CNN’s Darcy tweeted late Thursday that Penguin, the publisher of Halperin’s upcoming account of the 2016 election, the third Game Change book, had canceled plans to release it with his co-author, John Heilemann.
The allegations are the latest in a string of sweeping news reports that have sent shock waves through the media industry, beginning with an Oct. 5 report in The New York Times that alleged film executive Harvey Weinstein had sexually harassed and assaulted women for decades. And Amazon Studios head Roy Price resigned earlier this month after a producer publicly accused him of sexual harassment.
Read CNN’s full report here.
This article has been updated with additional details and responses to the allegations. Alana Horowitz Satlin contributed reporting.
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BEFORE YOU GO
Heather Graham
In a column for Variety published Oct. 10, actress Heather Graham said that Harvey Weinstein once called her into his office and appeared to suggest she have sex with him in exchange for a role in one of his movies in the early 2000s.
Gwyneth Paltrow
Gwyneth Paltrow told The New York Times that she was just 22 when Weinstein scheduled a meeting with her in his hotel room. Weinstein attempted to massage her and invited her into the bedroom, at which point she left. She recalled thinking: “I thought you were my Uncle Harvey,” saying she'd formerly seen him as a mentor.
Romola Garai
Describing the experience as “humiliating” and “extremely problematic,” Romola Garai said that the Hollywood mogul invited her to his hotel room for an audition and answered the door in his bathrobe.
Garai said that she felt “violated” by Weinstein, who was fired from his namesake company on Oct. 8 in the wake of numerous sexual harassment allegations.
Garai said that she felt “violated” by Weinstein, who was fired from his namesake company on Oct. 8 in the wake of numerous sexual harassment allegations.
Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie told The New York Times that, during the 1999 release of “Playing by Heart,” Weinstein made unwanted sexual advances on her in a hotel room, which she rejected. “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,” Jolie said in an email to the Times. “This behavior towards women in any field, any country is unacceptable.”
Asia Argento
A New Yorker report contains claims that Weinstein “forcibly performed oral sex" on actress and director Asia Argento. The incident reportedly led to a series of complicated sexual encounters, which Argento said brought her “back to the little girl that I was when I was 21.” She added: “When I see him, it makes me feel little and stupid and weak. ... After the rape, he won.”
Rose McGowan
A New York Times article reported that actress Rose McGowan received a $100,000 settlement from Weinstein in 1997 after “an episode in a hotel room during the Sundance Film Festival.” McGowan declined to comment for the Times’ report (some have speculated that she kept mum because her settlement may have involved a non-disclosure agreement). Talk that she was sexually assaulted by Weinstein has circulated since at least 2016, when McGowan tweeted about being “raped” by a studio executive.
Mira Sorvino
Mira Sorvino, who worked with Weinstein on several films, told The New Yorker that the film executive sexually harassed her on multiple occasions. In 1995, she said, she was in a hotel room with Weinstein when he started chasing her around and trying to massage her. A few weeks later he called her in the middle of the night and said he was coming to her apartment. “I freaked out,” she said, and called a male friend to ask him to come over and pose as her boyfriend. Weinstein arrived before the friend. “I opened the door terrified, brandishing my twenty-pound Chihuahua mix in front of me, as though that would do any good.” Sorvino said she told Weinstein her “boyfriend” was coming over, at which point he became dispirited and left.
Emma de Caunes
French actress Emma de Caunes reported that Weinstein once asked her to his hotel room on the pretense of looking at a book that was soon to be made into a film, and for which she could potentially be considered for the lead, she told The New Yorker. Weinstein came out of the bathroom naked and with an erection and tried to persuade her to have sex with him. “I was very petrified,” de Caunes said. “But I didn’t want to show him that I was petrified, because I could feel that the more I was freaking out, the more he was excited.” As she was leaving, she recalled, Weinstein said: “We haven’t done anything! It’s like being in a Walt Disney movie!” “I looked at him and I said — it took all my courage— but I said, ‘I’ve always hated Walt Disney movies.’ And then I left,” de Caunes told The New Yorker. “I slammed the door.”
Rosanna Arquette
Actress and director Rosanna Arquette told The New York Times that Weinstein lured her to his hotel room in the 1990s with the promise of picking up a script for a potential role. Arquette found the film executive in a bathrobe, and Weinstein then asked her for a massage and tried to force her hand on his crotch when she refused. “Rosanna, you’re making a big mistake,” he told her, Arquette said. She recalled responding: “I’m not that girl. I will never be that girl."
Jessica Barth
Jessica Barth told The New Yorker that Weinstein invited her to his Beverly Hills hotel room for a business meeting in 2011. He claimed he wanted privacy to “talk career stuff,” she recounted. In the room, he demanded a naked massage in bed. “So, what would happen if, say, we’re having some champagne and I take my clothes off and you give me a massage?” he asked her, she recounted. She said she told him: “‘That’s not going to happen.”
Lauren Sivan
Journalist Lauren Sivan told HuffPost that she met Weinstein at Cipriani, an Italian restaurant in Manhattan, in 2007 and later rode with him and others to a club in which Weinstein was an investor. He asked her to join him on a tour of its restaurant downstairs, she said, and in an area closed to the public he tried to kiss her. Weinstein then exposed himself to Sivan and began to masturbate, ejaculating into a potted plant, she said.
Liza Campbell
British writer Liza Campbell told The Sunday Times that Weinstein once invited her to his hotel room for a business meeting. She said there were initially others in the room who then seemed to “vanish” when she arrived. After talking for a few moments, Weinstein reportedly went into the bathroom and started drawing a bath. “What do you say we both jump in the bath? Come on, it’ll be fun. We can drink champagne. You can soap me — whaddaya say?” she says he told her. “‘If you come back into this room with no clothes on I’m going to fucking lose my temper,’” she recalled telling him before leaving the hotel.
Cara Delevingne
Actress and model Cara Delevingne shared her Weinstein story on Instagram on Oct. 11. “When I first started to work as an actress, I was working on a film and I received a call from Harvey Weinstein asking if I had slept with any of the women I was seen out with in the media,” Delevingne, who has been open about being bisexual, said. A year or two after that call, she said, she met with Weinstein about a film role in a hotel and he invited her up to his room, she said. “When I arrived I was relieved to find another woman in his room and thought immediately I was safe,” she said. “He asked us to kiss and she began some sort of advances upon his direction. I swiftly got up and asked him if he knew that I could sing.” After attempting to use singing as a distraction, she said she had to leave. Weinstein allegedly walked her to the door and “tried to kiss me on the lips.”
Ashley Judd
Ashley Judd told The New York Times that Weinstein lured her to his room at the Peninsula Beverly Hills hotel, where she found him dressed in a bathrobe. Weinstein then reportedly asked if he could massage her or whether she would agree to watch him shower. “How do I get out of the room as fast as possible without alienating Harvey Weinstein?” she recalled thinking.
Lea Seydoux
Actress Lea Seydoux said that she and Weinstein were both in Paris attending a fashion show when he insisted they meet in his hotel room. “We were talking on the sofa when he suddenly jumped on me and tried to kiss me,” Seydoux told The Guardian. “All throughout the evening, he flirted and stared at me as if I was a piece of meat. It was hard to say no because he’s so powerful. I’m an actress and he’s a producer.”
Louisette Geiss
Louisette Geiss, a former actress who once met with Harvey Weinstein to discuss her screenwriting, said at a news conference in Los Angeles that the film producer assaulted her in 2008. Geiss said she was at the Sundance Film Festival when Weinstein approached her about a film she was pitching. Weinstein invited her to his office, she said, then went into the bathroom and emerged in a bathrobe. Geiss said Weinstein had his penis out, went into a hot tub and began masturbating. “I was obviously nervous and he just kept asking me to watch him masturbate,” she said. “He quickly got out of tub and grabbed my forearm as I tried to grab my purse, leading me to the bathroom and pleading with me to just watch him masturbate.” Weinstein allegedly said if she stayed and watched, he would greenlight her pitched script. “I pulled it together and quickly exited,” she said.
Katherine Kendall
Actress Katherine Kendall told The New York Times that in 1993 Weinstein asked if they could go by his apartment after a meeting. After an hour of chatting, Kendall said, Weinstein went into the bathroom and came out wearing a robe and asked for a massage. “Everybody does it,” he said, according to Kendall. When she refused, Kendall said, he took off the robe and proceeded to chase her around the apartment. “He literally chased me. He wouldn’t let me pass him to get to the door.” Weinstein asked her to show him her breasts, which she refused to do, she said.
Judith Godrèche
French actress Judith Godrèche told The New York Times that Weinstein invited her to breakfast at the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc during the 1996 Cannes Film Festival. The film executive then invited Godrèche, who was 24 at the time, up to his room to discuss a film she had starred in and which Weinstein had just acquired, she said. “I was so naïve and unprepared,” she said. Weinstein tried to give her a massage, saying it was an American custom. “The next thing I know, he’s pressing against me and pulling off my sweater." She said she managed to get away and left the room.
Dawn Dunning
Dawn Dunning said she was invited to a Manhattan hotel for a business meeting with Weinstein in 2003. Dunning was an aspiring actress at the time and said Weinstein’s assistant told her the film executive was running late and that she could wait in his suite. But when she got upstairs, Dunning told The New York Times, Weinstein was in a bathrobe and said she could be in his films only if she had three-way sex with him. “You’ll never make it in this business,” she said he told her. “This is how the business works.” Dunning decided not to pursue acting and became a costume designer.
Zoe Brock
Zoe Brock, a model from New Zealand, wrote a blog post that she once had to lock herself in a bathroom as Weinstein tried to force himself on her. Brock said she met the film executive at the Cannes Film Festival and unwittingly found herself alone in a hotel suite with him after attending several parties as part of a large group. (Brock said she had been told others would be arriving, but they never did.) Weinstein reportedly advanced, naked, on Brock and tried to give her a massage, at which point she retreated to the bathroom. She wrote: “I came out of the bathroom and found him sitting on his bed, wearing a bathrobe, crying. ‘You don’t like me because I’m fat.’ He whimpered. ‘Are you serious?’ I yelled.”
Ambra Battilana Gutierrez
The New Yorker reported that Ambra Battilana Gutierrez, a Filipina-Italian model, went to Weinstein’s office in Tribeca in 2015 to show him her modeling portfolio. Weinstein reportedly asked her if her breasts were real and then, she later told officers of the New York Police Department Special Victims Division, the film executive jumped toward her, groped her breasts and tried to put his hand up her skirt. Gutierrez filed a report with the NYPD, which led to a sting operation inr which she wore a wire in an “attempt to extract a confession or incriminating statement” from Weinstein. The resulting audio can be heard on HuffPost.
Kate Beckinsale
In a lengthy Instagram post on Oct. 12, actress Kate Beckinsale detailed an alleged interaction with Weinstein when she was 17 that echoes the stories of many other women. Beckinsale said she was told to go to the producer's hotel room, where he greeted her in a bathrobe and offered her alcohol before she left.
"I said no to him professionally many times over the years," she wrote, "some of which ended up with him screaming at me calling me a cunt and making threats, some of which made him laughingly tell people, 'Oh, Kate lives to say no to me.'"
"I said no to him professionally many times over the years," she wrote, "some of which ended up with him screaming at me calling me a cunt and making threats, some of which made him laughingly tell people, 'Oh, Kate lives to say no to me.'"
Sophie Dix
British actress Sophie Dix told The Guardian that Weinstein once invited her to his room at the Savoy hotel “to watch some rushes” — a term used for unprocessed footage from a day’s filming. Dix, who was 22 at the time and had recently landed some major roles, said she agreed. But when she arrived, she said, "all the alarm bells started ringing."
“Before I knew it, he started trying to pull my clothes off and pin me down and I just kept saying ‘no, no, no.' But he was really forceful," she said. "I remember him pulling at my trousers and stuff and looming over me and I just sort of – I am a big, strong girl and I bolted ... ran for the bathroom and locked the door. I was in there for a while I think, he went very quiet. After a while I remember opening the door and seeing him just there facing the door masturbating, so I quickly closed the door again and locked it. Then when I heard room service come to the door I just ran."
“Before I knew it, he started trying to pull my clothes off and pin me down and I just kept saying ‘no, no, no.' But he was really forceful," she said. "I remember him pulling at my trousers and stuff and looming over me and I just sort of – I am a big, strong girl and I bolted ... ran for the bathroom and locked the door. I was in there for a while I think, he went very quiet. After a while I remember opening the door and seeing him just there facing the door masturbating, so I quickly closed the door again and locked it. Then when I heard room service come to the door I just ran."
Florence Darel
Florence Darel, a French actress, spoke about an alleged experience with Weinstein in an interview with French outlet Le Parisien. In 1995, Darel said, her agent persuaded her to go to a meeting with Weinstein at his suite at The Ritz in Paris. When she got there, Darel said, Weinstein began propositioning her even though his wife was apparently next door.
“He started to tell me that he found me very attractive and wanted to have relations with me. I told him I was very in love with my companion. He replied that didn’t bother him at all and offered to have me be his mistress a few days a year. That way we could continue to work together. Basically, it was, ‘If you want to continue in America, you have to go through me,’" Darel said. She says she left quickly and told Weinstein: “I’m sorry, I have to leave.”
“He started to tell me that he found me very attractive and wanted to have relations with me. I told him I was very in love with my companion. He replied that didn’t bother him at all and offered to have me be his mistress a few days a year. That way we could continue to work together. Basically, it was, ‘If you want to continue in America, you have to go through me,’" Darel said. She says she left quickly and told Weinstein: “I’m sorry, I have to leave.”
Claire Forlani
Claire Forlani wrote on Twitter that she repeatedly dodged Weinstein's advances when she was in her 20s. "I escaped five times," she alleged. "I had two Peninsula Hotel meetings in the evening with Harvey and all I remember was I ducked, dived and ultimately got out of there without getting slobbered over." She added: "Yes, massage was suggested."
She also said she had three dinners with Weinstein during which he allegedly boasted about the actresses he'd slept with and joked that a pilot "was on standby because he could never get me to sleep with him."
She also said she had three dinners with Weinstein during which he allegedly boasted about the actresses he'd slept with and joked that a pilot "was on standby because he could never get me to sleep with him."
Melissa Sagemiller
Actress Melissa Sagemiller told HuffPost she experienced Weinstein's misbehavior on three occasions. Once, at lunch with the producer, she said he asked what kind of men she liked to date. Then, in his hotel room, while wearing only a bathrobe, Weinstein allegedly asked for a massage and would not let Sagemiller leave until she kissed him.
Finally, the producer would not allow the actress to board her flight to New York, insisting she ride in his private plane. Weinstein allegedly ordered airport personnel to remove Sagemiller's bags from her flight from Toronto and deliver her to the runway where his plane was awaiting takeoff.
"If my manager called me tomorrow and said, 'Actually, I remember there was this movie you were up for, and now that I’m thinking back on it, maybe [rebuffing Weinstein is] why you didn’t get it,' I wouldn’t be surprised at all," the actress said.
Finally, the producer would not allow the actress to board her flight to New York, insisting she ride in his private plane. Weinstein allegedly ordered airport personnel to remove Sagemiller's bags from her flight from Toronto and deliver her to the runway where his plane was awaiting takeoff.
"If my manager called me tomorrow and said, 'Actually, I remember there was this movie you were up for, and now that I’m thinking back on it, maybe [rebuffing Weinstein is] why you didn’t get it,' I wouldn’t be surprised at all," the actress said.
Tara Subkoff
Actress and fashion designer Tara Subkoff told Variety that Weinstein had informally offered her a role in one of his films when he sexually harassed her in the 1990s.
“That night... I went out to a premiere after party that Harvey Weinstein was also at. He motioned for me to come over to him, and then grabbed me to sit me on his lap," she said. "I was so surprised and shocked I couldn’t stop laughing because it was so awkward. But then I could feel that he had an erection. I got quiet, but got off his lap quickly. He then asked me to come outside with him and other things I don’t want to share, but it was implied that if I did not comply with doing what he asked me to do that I would not get the role that I had already been informally offered. I laughed in his face as I was in shock and so uncomfortable. I left the party right after that.”
Subkoff said the offer for the role was rescinded and she felt that her reputation was "ruined by false gossip."
"I was called ‘too difficult to work with. It became impossible for me to get work as an actress after this."
“That night... I went out to a premiere after party that Harvey Weinstein was also at. He motioned for me to come over to him, and then grabbed me to sit me on his lap," she said. "I was so surprised and shocked I couldn’t stop laughing because it was so awkward. But then I could feel that he had an erection. I got quiet, but got off his lap quickly. He then asked me to come outside with him and other things I don’t want to share, but it was implied that if I did not comply with doing what he asked me to do that I would not get the role that I had already been informally offered. I laughed in his face as I was in shock and so uncomfortable. I left the party right after that.”
Subkoff said the offer for the role was rescinded and she felt that her reputation was "ruined by false gossip."
"I was called ‘too difficult to work with. It became impossible for me to get work as an actress after this."
Minka Kelly
Actress Minka Kelly posted on Instagram that Weinstein requested a meeting with her in his hotel room after seeing her at an industry party. Kelly refused, and the two met at a hotel restaurant. "He bullshit me for 5 minutes re: movies he could put me in, then asked the assistant to excuse us," Kelly wrote. "As she walked away, he said, 'I know you were feeling what I was feeling when we met the other night' and then regaled me with offers of a lavish life filled with trips around the world on private planes etc. IF I would be his girlfriend. Or, 'We could just keep this professional.'" When Kelly asked that they keep things professional, Weinstein allegedly responded: “Fine. I trust you won't tell anyone about this.”
Angie Everhart
Actress and former model Angie Everhart told KLOS morning show "Frosty, Heidi & Frank" that Weinstein masturbated in front of her while they were staying on the same boat at the Venice Film Festival. Everhart said she was sleeping, and when she woke up she saw Weinstein standing over her bed. "All of the sudden he takes his pants down and starts doing his stuff. He's blocking the door. I can't get out and he — I don't know how to say this on the radio, but he finishes on the carpet of the floor." Everhart said Weinstein then told her, "You're a really nice girl. You shouldn't tell anybody about this." The actress said she did tell several people who were also staying on the boat, but nothing happened. "Nobody wanted to do anything about it because everyone was terrified of Harvey," she said.
Sarah Ann Masse
Actress Sarah Ann Masse told Variety that she was working as a nanny and hoping to launch an acting career in New York City in 2008. She received a call from her agency about a job babysitting Weinstein’s three children. When she went to his home for an interview, the film executive was in his boxers and stayed that way throughout the meeting. After the interview, Masse said, Weinstein grabbed her. He “gave me this really tight, close hug that lasted for quite a long period of time. He was still in his underwear. Then he told me he loved me. I left right after that.” Masse was later informed she hadn’t gotten the job. “It felt like I dodged a bullet,” she said.
Eva Green
In a statement to Variety, actress Eva Green said that Weinstein made sexual advances toward her during a business meeting. "I met him for a business meeting in Paris where he behaved inappropriately and I had to push him off. I got away without it going further, but the experience left me shocked and disgusted," she said.
Lysette Anthony
Actress Lysette Anthony alleged in an article published in The Sunday Times that Weinstein raped her in her London home in the late 1980s. Anthony said the attack was “pathetic, revolting” and left her “disgusted and embarrassed." The Times said Anthony decided to report the assault to a London police station after other victims started coming forward.
Trish Goff
Model Trish Goff told The New York Times that Weinstein invited her to lunch in 2003 but then found they had been seated in a private room. “Then he started asking me if I had a boyfriend, and if we had an open relationship," she told the Times. "I said I wasn’t interested in an open relationship, but he was relentless, and I kept trying to shut that down and move on. Then he started putting his hands on my legs, and I said, ‘Can you stop doing that?’ When we finally stood up to go, he really started groping me, grabbing my breasts, grabbing my face and trying to kiss me. I kept saying, ‘Please stop, please stop,' but he didn’t until I managed to get back into the public space."
Alice Evans
In an essay published in The Telegraph, actress Alice Evans wondered whether rejecting Weinstein's advances had hurt her career. Evans said Weinstein approached her at the Cannes Film Festival in 2003. “Oddly, despite having heard endless stories about massages and hand-jobs in hotel rooms, it doesn’t even cross my mind — not for a second — that he might try the same on me,” she wrote. Weinstein allegedly complimented Evans' then-boyfriend, Ian Gruffudd, on a recent audition, then asked the actress to accompany him to the hotel bathroom. He allegedly told her: “Just go. I’m right behind you. I want to touch your tits. Kiss you a little." When Evans refused, she said, Weinstein told her, “Let’s hope it all works out for your boyfriend.”
Lena Headey
“Game of Thrones” star Lena Headey shared her own Weinstein story in a series of notes posted to Twitter. The actress said the Miramax co-founder made sexual advances toward her after their first meeting at the Venice Film Festival. Headey was attending to promote the Weinstein-produced film “Brothers Grimm,” which screened there in September 2005. “At one point Harvey asked me to take a walk down to the water,” she began. “I walked down with him and he stopped and made some suggestive comment, a gesture. I just laughed it off.”
She continued: “I was genuinely shocked. I remember thinking, it’s got to be a joke. I said something like, ‘Oh, come on, mate?!?? It’d be like kissing my dad!!’” Headey suggested her rebuff might have cost her roles in other projects helmed by Weinstein, because she was never cast again.
She continued: “I was genuinely shocked. I remember thinking, it’s got to be a joke. I said something like, ‘Oh, come on, mate?!?? It’d be like kissing my dad!!’” Headey suggested her rebuff might have cost her roles in other projects helmed by Weinstein, because she was never cast again.
Vu Thu Phuong
Vietnamese model and actress Vu Thu Phuong posted a candid Facebook post (translated by the Vietnamese culture site Saigoneer) about a disturbing encounter she had with Weinstein almost a decade ago. Phuong said she agreed to meet with the producer about potentials roles but that the meeting quickly became sexual. “Everything suddenly turned dark when I saw Mr. Harvey Weinstein standing before me with only a towel around his waist, smiling,” she wrote. According to Phuong, Weinstein told her that the role he had in mind for her involved sex scenes. “I can teach you, don’t worry. Many stars have also been through this,” Weinstein told Phuong, according to her post. “Just treat this as necessary experiences so that you’ll have a stronger foundation in the future.” Phuong said that she rejected his advances. “I was thinking at the moment that if he were to rape me or kill me, would anybody find out and stop him?” Phuong wrote on Facebook. “It was an extremely horrifying feeling.”
Lauren Holly
Actress Lauren Holly appeared on the Canadian television show "The Social" to describe an alleged encounter with Weinstein. The incident, she said, occurred in the late 1990s in a hotel room where she believed she was meeting the producer for a business meeting. When she arrived, Weinstein had a bucket of Champagne, she said. "My first thought was, ‘Oh, my God, I’m really important. Harvey Weinstein has Champagne for me. This is very exciting,'” Holly said. She said that things changed, though, when he appeared in a bathrobe and proceeded to use the toilet and shower in front of her. The actress said Weinstein then got out of the shower and came toward her naked, asking for a massage.
“He told me I looked stressed. He said that maybe he thought I could use a massage. Maybe I could give him a massage,” she said. When she refused, she said, Weinstein told her it would be a “bad decision” and would hurt her career if she left. But, Holly said, she "pushed him and ran.”
“He told me I looked stressed. He said that maybe he thought I could use a massage. Maybe I could give him a massage,” she said. When she refused, she said, Weinstein told her it would be a “bad decision” and would hurt her career if she left. But, Holly said, she "pushed him and ran.”
Sarah Polley
Director and producer Sarah Polley wrote in an op-ed published in The New York Times that Weinstein propositioned her when she was 19. Polley had just starred in the Miramax film "Guinevere" when Weinstein requested a meeting with her. "He told me, in front of the publicist and a co-worker beside him, that a famous star, a few years my senior, had once sat across from him in the chair I was in now," Polley wrote. "Because of his 'very close relationship' with this actress, she had gone on to play leading roles and win awards. If he and I had that kind of 'close relationship,' I could have a similar career." Polley refused, telling Weinstein she didn't care that much about acting.
Amber Anderson
Actress Amber Anderson posted a note on Instagram describing her own experience with Weinstein. The producer "coerced" her into a private meeting in 2013, when Anderson was 20, she said. "He behaved inappropriately and propositioned a 'personal' relationship to further my career whilst bragging about other actresses he had 'helped' in a similar way."
Weinstein allegedly told the actress not to tell anyone that she had been alone with him. "He tried to take my hand and put it in his lap which is when I managed to leave the room," she wrote.
Weinstein allegedly told the actress not to tell anyone that she had been alone with him. "He tried to take my hand and put it in his lap which is when I managed to leave the room," she wrote.
Mia Kirshner
In an op-ed published in The Globe and Mail, actress Mia Kirshner described "an ordeal in a hotel room" with Weinstein in which, she alleged, "he attempted to treat me like chattel that could be purchased with the promise of work in exchange for being his disposable orifice." Kirshner didn't elaborate on the experience, writing, "I'm not giving that man, a newly crowned figurehead of sexual abuse, the privilege of more ink."
Katya Mtsitouridze
Russian television hostess Katya Mtsitouridze told The Hollywood Reporter that she was duped into meeting Weinstein alone in a hotel room during the Venice Film Festival in 2004. When the assistant she thought would be joining them left the room, Weinstein appeared in front of Mtsitouridze dressed in a bathrobe.
The producer allegedly told her: "I waited for the masseuse, but she's late. We can have fun without her. Let's relax." When Mtsitouridze hesitated, she said, Weinstein told her, "You will love it. I'm a guru in this matter. You never met a man like me." Mtsitouridze said she was frozen but took her opportunity to leave when a waiter came into the room with an ice bucket for Champagne.
Mtsitouridze said she ran into Weinstein at the Cannes Film Festival a decade later and he told her quietly: "Don't even think about saying anything. Forget all about it. Be a smart girl."
The producer allegedly told her: "I waited for the masseuse, but she's late. We can have fun without her. Let's relax." When Mtsitouridze hesitated, she said, Weinstein told her, "You will love it. I'm a guru in this matter. You never met a man like me." Mtsitouridze said she was frozen but took her opportunity to leave when a waiter came into the room with an ice bucket for Champagne.
Mtsitouridze said she ran into Weinstein at the Cannes Film Festival a decade later and he told her quietly: "Don't even think about saying anything. Forget all about it. Be a smart girl."
Marisa Coughlan
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, actress and writer Marisa Coughlan said she was working on a Miramax film when Weinstein began suggesting they could, as Coughlan put it, "barter sex for movie roles."
"He told me that he has a lot of 'special friends' and they give each other massages," Coughlan said. "It was a full-court press. He wanted me to be one of his 'special friends' and go into the bedroom. I told him that I had a serious boyfriend and reminded him that he was married and that we should keep this professional. I was so blindsided. Not one ounce of me anticipated it. It was the weirdest meeting I've ever had in my life." Weinstein allegedly made the offer several other times, to which Coughlan always refused.
"He told me that he has a lot of 'special friends' and they give each other massages," Coughlan said. "It was a full-court press. He wanted me to be one of his 'special friends' and go into the bedroom. I told him that I had a serious boyfriend and reminded him that he was married and that we should keep this professional. I was so blindsided. Not one ounce of me anticipated it. It was the weirdest meeting I've ever had in my life." Weinstein allegedly made the offer several other times, to which Coughlan always refused.
Lupita Nyong’o
In an op-ed for The New York Times, Lupita Nyong’o said Weinstein invited her to lunch, then to his Connecticut home for a private movie screening, where he brought her up to his room, offered to give her a massage, then said he wanted to take off his pants. During the lunch, Nyong’o wrote, the producer insisted she drink a vodka and soda and ordered one for her even against her wishes.
She also accused the Hollywood mogul of abruptly ending a dinner with her after she declined his invitation to come up to his hotel room.
"I was stunned," she said. "I told him I preferred to eat in the restaurant. He told me not to be so naïve. If I wanted to be an actress, then I had to be willing to do this sort of thing. He said he had dated Famous Actress X and Y and look where that had gotten them."
She added, "I was silent for a while before I mustered up the courage to politely decline his offer."
She also accused the Hollywood mogul of abruptly ending a dinner with her after she declined his invitation to come up to his hotel room.
"I was stunned," she said. "I told him I preferred to eat in the restaurant. He told me not to be so naïve. If I wanted to be an actress, then I had to be willing to do this sort of thing. He said he had dated Famous Actress X and Y and look where that had gotten them."
She added, "I was silent for a while before I mustered up the courage to politely decline his offer."
Heather Kerr
Former actress Heather Kerr spoke at a news conference in Los Angeles and accused Weinstein of forcing her to touch his penis. Kerr said Weinstein sexually assaulted her in 1989 while the two were discussing her career. “I offered to provide him with a reel of my acting work. He had this sly, sleazy smile on his face,” Kerr said. “The next thing I knew, he had unzipped his fly and pulled out his penis. He then grabbed my hand and pulled me toward him and forced my hand onto his penis and held it there.” The actress said that she “pulled away as casually as possible” and that Weinstein told her, “This is how things work in Hollywood and all actresses who’d made it did it this way.”
Sean Young
In an interview on the "The Dudley and Bob With Matt Show" podcast, actress Sean Young said Weinstein exposed himself to her during a meeting. Young worked with Weinstein on the 1992 film "Love Crimes."
"I personally experienced him pulling his you-know-what out of his pants in order to shock me. My basic response was, ‘You know, Harvey, I really don’t think you should be pulling that thing out. It’s not very pretty.’” The actress said she left the room and refused to meet with the producer again.
"I personally experienced him pulling his you-know-what out of his pants in order to shock me. My basic response was, ‘You know, Harvey, I really don’t think you should be pulling that thing out. It’s not very pretty.’” The actress said she left the room and refused to meet with the producer again.
Erika Rosenbaum
Canadian actress Erika Rosenbaum described a number of alleged encounters she had with Weinstein over the years in an audio interview with The New York Times. Rosenbaum said she met the producer in Los Angeles when she was 21 and pursued a professional relationship with him, hoping he might become a mentor as she launched her career. Weinstein allegedly took advantage of the actress' efforts by coercing her into several private meetings in hotel rooms and offices. In their first private meeting, Rosenbaum said, Weinstein appeared in front of her with nothing on below the waist. In a subsequent meeting, the producer allegedly forced her into a bathroom and held on to her neck as he masturbated behind her. Rosenbaum told the Times the experiences made her feel "disgusted" and "ashamed."
Mimi Haleyi
Mimi Haleyi, a former production assistant for The Weinstein Co., alleged Weinstein forced himself on her and forced oral sex on her in 2006 while she was on her period.
Haleyi described more than one incident of sexual harassment. She claimed Weinstein once attempted to persuade her to give him a massage and also once forced himself into her apartment after she declined an invitation to join him in Paris. During one instance, Haleyi said she and Weinstein were watching TV when he began making sexual advances toward her.
“I said, ‘I am on my period. There is no way this is going to happen. Please stop.’ He wouldn’t take no for an answer,” Haleyi said, adding that the producer then held her on her bed and assaulted her.
Haleyi described more than one incident of sexual harassment. She claimed Weinstein once attempted to persuade her to give him a massage and also once forced himself into her apartment after she declined an invitation to join him in Paris. During one instance, Haleyi said she and Weinstein were watching TV when he began making sexual advances toward her.
“I said, ‘I am on my period. There is no way this is going to happen. Please stop.’ He wouldn’t take no for an answer,” Haleyi said, adding that the producer then held her on her bed and assaulted her.
Brit Marling
Brit Marling, co-creator of Netflix's "The OA," revealed that she was sexually harassed by Weinstein in 2014. In an essay published in The Atlantic, Marling described her encounter with the disgraced producer, which echoed many of the stories shared by other women.
She wrote: "I, too, was asked to meet him in a hotel bar. I, too, met a young, female assistant there who said the meeting had been moved upstairs to his suite because he was a very busy man. I, too, felt my guard go up but was calmed by the presence of another woman my age beside me. I, too, felt terror in the pit of my stomach when that young woman left the room and I was suddenly alone with him. I, too, was asked if I wanted a massage, champagne, strawberries. I, too, sat in that chair paralyzed by mounting fear when he suggested we shower together."
She wrote: "I, too, was asked to meet him in a hotel bar. I, too, met a young, female assistant there who said the meeting had been moved upstairs to his suite because he was a very busy man. I, too, felt my guard go up but was calmed by the presence of another woman my age beside me. I, too, felt terror in the pit of my stomach when that young woman left the room and I was suddenly alone with him. I, too, was asked if I wanted a massage, champagne, strawberries. I, too, sat in that chair paralyzed by mounting fear when he suggested we shower together."
Dominique Huett
Actress Dominique Huett filed a lawsuit, obtained by TMZ, claiming Weinstein sexually harassed her in 2010. According to the outlet, Huett says Weinstein invited her to his hotel room for what she believed would be a business meeting. She claims Weinstein went to the bathroom, came out wearing a robe and then asked for a massage. When she refused, she said, Weinstein demanded a massage and then went on to ask if he could perform oral sex on her, not taking no for an answer.
Natassia Malthe
Actress Natassia Malthe spoke in New York City with her attorney Gloria Allred about a 2008 encounter with Weinstein. Malthe said she met the disgraced producer at that year's British Academy Film Awards. Weinstein later gained entrance to her hotel room and allegedly removed his pants and began discussing A-list celebrities who gained fame after sleeping with him. Malthe said Weinstein forced himself upon her after beginning to masturbate in front of her. "I believe I dissociated during the time he was having sex with me. I played dead," she said.
