Actor Kate Beckinsale says she was psychologically tortured and bullied by Hollywood producer and convicted rapist Harvey Weinstein during the promotions of 2001 romantic film Serendipity.
Multiple women, including top Hollywood actresses, came forward with their claim of sexul harassment, assault and rape against the producer in 2017, sparking the #MeToo movement. He is currently serving a jail term of 23 years for rape and sexual assault of a former actor and assistant.
Beckinsale had opened up about the way she was treated by the producer in an Instagram post in March while promoting the romantic comedy where Weinstein had told her shake her a** at a movie premiere and not look like a lesbian“.
Now in an interview with Vulture , Beckinsale has elaborated on her experience of working with Weinstein.
“I was never sexually attacked by Harvey. There was never a sexual component. But there was really extreme bullying. And that’s not just Harvey. I have eight or nine anecdotes I could have said about Harvey, and countless I could have said about other people,” the actor said.
The 46-year-old actor said that the kind of bullying she experienced isn’t prosecutable or a crime, but deserves to be addressed.
“I do think it’s incredibly oppressive and worth addressing. It wasn’t like I was like, ‘Oh, he’s in jail, now I’ll say my thing’ It was very much another conversation I wanted to have, that hasn’t been touched at this point. I do think it’s much more likely to happen to females, still, and that’s why I did that.”
“But no, it wasn’t the first and it was part of (many) I had to navigate. Somebody hauling out their penis — you have a bit more of a plan of what to do. But somebody sort of psychologically torturing you or bullying you, there’s still no real plan there. You’re still expected to suck it up, Beckinsale added,” Beckinsale was quoted as saying.
The actor believes she had go through professional backlash due to her encounter with Weinstein: “I think there are a lot of women in this industry who said no to all sorts of things — and I don’t just mean sexually — and suddenly found that the cover of the magazine they were going to do fell apart, or the movie that they were going to do fell away.”
“There was backlash. Just like with any bully. It only takes one phone call to go, ‘Don’t hire her.’ If somebody has a vindictive agenda or feels you’ve overstepped by saying no, it’s just one or two phone calls to cause you real trouble. It’s not a huge effort,” she concluded.
Weinstein was convicted in February of a criminal sexual act in the first degree and rape in the third degree, while being cleared of predatory sexual assault charges.
He was convicted of raping ex-actress Jessica Mann in 2013 and of forcibly performing oral sex on former production assistant Mimi Haleyi in 2006.
Nearly 90 women, including Hollywood stars Angelina Jolie and Salma Hayek, have leveled sexual misconduct allegations against Weinstein.
