Kate Beckinsale is sharing a horrifying memory involving Harvey Weinstein. On the heels of the disgraced Hollywood producer's 23-year prison sentence, the famed actress took to social media, recalling an alleged experience with Weinstein at his home.
Beckinsale set the scene by posting a photo of herself and one of the convicted rapists, both from the October 2001 New York City premiere of Serendipity. In the picture of her, the actress is shown sporting an all-white suit and tie.
"These photos were taken at the premiere of Serendipity on October 5, 2001. We all refused to go because holding a premiere mere weeks after 9/11 with the city still smoking felt like the most insensitive, tone-deaf, disrespectful idea possible," Beckinsale wrote. "But Harvey insisted. We flew into New York and somehow got through it."
As Beckinsale's story continued, "The next morning Harvey called me and asked if I would like to bring my less than two-year-old daughter to his house for a playdate with his similar aged daughter I said ok. I turned up and he immediately called for his nanny to take the babies to another room to play. I went to go with them and he said 'No, you wait here.'"
Then, she alleged, Weinstein explicitly verbally berated her. "The minute the door closed he started screaming, 'You stupid f---ing c---, you c--- you ruined my premiere.' I had no idea what he was talking about and started to shake. He said, 'If I am throwing a red carpet you get in a tight dress, you shake you're a-- you shake your t--s you do not go down it looking like a f---ing lesbian you stupid f---ing c---.'"
"The shock made me burst into tears," Beckinsale wrote. "I tried to say 'Harvey, the city is on fire, people are still looking for their relative's none of us even felt the premiere was appropriate much less coming out dressed like it's a bachelor party.' He said, 'I don't care -it's my f---ing premiere and if I want p---- on the red carpet that's what I get.' Screaming. Livid."
The star continued, "I managed to get myself and my child out of there and yes that was one of many experiences I had that there was no recourse for and falls under no felony. But I WAS punished for it, and for other instances where I said no to him for years, insidiously and seeming irreversible."
Reflecting on the news of his prison sentence, Beckinsale said, "Hearing that he has gone to prison for 23 years is a huge relief to me on behalf of all the women he sexually assaulted or raped, and I hope will be a deterrent to that sort of behavior in this and any other industry
Having said that, the crimes that are not crimes, the inhumane bullying and sick covert abuse for which there is STILL no recourse no matter who you tell (and I did tell), these too need to go. I hope and pray that we as an industry can start to actually outlaw all abuses of power and expose them and eliminate them, for all genders, forever."
As she signed off, "And Rose, brava."
In 2017, amid the public firestorm of allegations against the film producer, the star recalled Weinstein calling her a "c---" as she described experiences with him over the years, including when he offered her alcohol in his hotel room when she was 17.
"He opened the door in his bathrobe. I was incredibly naive and young and it did not cross my mind that this older, unattractive man would expect me to have any sexual interest in him. After declining alcohol and announcing that I had school in the morning I left, uneasy but unscathed. A few years later he asked me if he had tried anything with me in that first meeting. I realized he couldn't remember if he had assaulted me or not," she wrote online at the time.
"I had what I thought were boundaries - I said no to him professionally many times over the years some of which ended up with him screaming at me calling me a c--- and making threats, some of which made him laughingly tell people oh 'Kate lives to say no to me.'
It speaks to the status quo in this business that I was aware that standing up for myself and saying no to things, while it did allow me to feel uncompromised in myself, undoubtedly harmed my career and was never something I felt supported by anyone other than my family."
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