The Harvey Weinstein scandal has reached the UK, with Scotland Yard investigating five allegations of sexual assault made by three women against the embattled movie mogul.
It comes as Hollyoaks star Lysette Anthony recounted in horrific detail, through her friend Charlotte Metcalf in The Sunday Times, how Weinstein allegedly raped her in the late 1980s and subsequently stalked her for years.
Anthony told her friend the harrowing story 15 years ago, but only now that other women have spoken up against Weinstein she found the courage to report the producer to Metropolitan police.
The actor met Weinstein in 1982 during publicity for the sci-fi movie Krull and they became friends over the next few years.
One night, though, the two ended up at his rented house in Chelsea and the situation worsened:
“I’m so nosy about other people’s houses and I was having a good snoop round. The next thing I knew he was half undressed and he grabbed me. It was the last thing I expected and I fled. I blamed it on myself because I was tired, a bit drunk and therefore so completely off my guard. He was a so-called friend I’d known for years and the clumsy fumble was the last thing I saw coming.”
Then, the producer allegedly started stalking her, showing up at her house all time.
The morning of the alleged rape Anthony answered the door to find Weinstein standing here. Here's what she recalls of that day:
“He pushed me inside and rammed me up against the coat rack in my tiny hall and started fumbling at my gown. He was trying to kiss me and shove inside me. It was disgusting.
“Finally I just gave up. At least I was able to stop him kissing me. As he ground himself against me and shoved inside me, I kept my eyes shut tight, held my breath, just let him get on with it. He came over my leg like a dog and then left. It was pathetic, revolting. I remember lying in the bath later and crying.”
“There hadn’t been a knife. He wasn’t a stranger. I was disgusted and embarrassed, but I was at home. I thought I should just forget the whole disgusting incident. I blamed myself. I’d been an idiot to think he and I were just friends.”
One year later they met in Milan and Weinstein bought her a coat. "I thought it was his unspoken way of apologising for what had happened," the actor said. "I assumed that was that and we went our separate ways.”
However, she was wrong. Her agent, who didn't know about the alleged rape, kept organising work meetings with Weinstein and the usual "bathrobe-and-massage" routine would happen:
“The meetings would start with a chat in a hotel suite. The assistants would disappear and then he’d disappear and return in a robe demanding a massage. By then I’d just given up. I knew I was powerless and at least I wouldn’t have to do much. I was just a body, young flesh. It wouldn’t take long and no one knew.”
Weinstein's rep told The Sunday Times: “Any allegations of non-consensual sex are unequivocally denied by Mr Weinstein.”
Topics Celebrities
