Harvey Weinstein is not just a serial sexual harasser, he's an alleged rapist, according to multiple women whose harrowing accounts were published on Tuesday.
Days after the New York Times' shocking expose detailed decades of Weinstein's inappropriate behavior and abuse when left alone with women -- including actress Ashley Judd -- The New Yorker followed up with an even more explosive investigative piece by journalist Ronan Farrow -- the son of Hollywood actress Mia Farrow -- who spoke to 13 women over 10 months. Three of them, including actress Asia Argento, said they were raped.
In response to the story, that is already sending more shock waves through Hollywood, Weinstein's lawyer issued the following statement: "Any allegations of non-consensual sex are unequivocally denied by Mr. Weinstein. Mr. Weinstein has further confirmed that there were never any acts of retaliation against any women for refusing his advances. Mr. Weinstein obviously can't speak to anonymous allegations, but with respect to any women who have made allegations on the record, Mr. Weinstein believes that all of these relationships were consensual. Mr. Weinstein has begun counseling, has listened to the community and is pursuing a better path. Mr. Weinstein is hoping that, if he makes enough progress, he will be given a second chance."
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Weinstein Allegedly Raped Asia Argento
Argento, an Italian film actress and director, told the New Yorker that Weinstein lured her up to a private room at Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc on the French Riviera under the false guise of a party.
Her story sounds very familiar: Weinstein appeared in a robe and asked for a massage, which she reluctantly agreed to. According to article, "He pulled her skirt up, forced her legs apart, and performed oral sex on her as she repeatedly told him to stop."
"It wouldn't stop. It was a nightmare," she said, adding that she faked enjoyment to end the sexual assault as soon as possible.
“I was not willing," she said. "I said, 'No, no, no.' . . . It's twisted. A big fat man wanting to eat you. It's a scary fairy tale."
The traumatic encounter impacted her psychologically for years.
"Just his body, his presence, his face, bring me back to the little girl that I was when I was 21," she said.
"After the rape, he won," she said.
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Lucia Evans, a once-aspiring actress who met Weinstein at a New York City club in 2004, said the producer "forced me to perform oral sex on him" during a daytime meeting at his Miramax office in Tribeca, where he took his penis out and forced her head down on it.
"I said, over and over, 'I don't want to do this, stop, don't,'" she said. “I tried to get away, but maybe I didn't try hard enough. I didn't want to kick him or fight him."
"He's a big guy. He overpowered me," she added.
"I just sort of gave up. That's the most horrible part of it, and that's why he's been able to do this for so long to so many women: people give up, and then they feel like it's their fault."
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One woman, who worked with Weinstein in the past and wished to remain anonymous, shared a similar story with the New Yorker, recounting a time he lured her into a hotel room to talk business, only to appear in a bathrobe and force himself on her sexually.
She said she experienced "horror, disbelief, and shame," but didn't go to police because, "I thought it would be a 'He said, she said,' and I thought about how impressive his legal team is, and I thought about how much I would lose, and I decided to just move forward."
After the rape, she continued professional relations with the producer.
"I was in a vulnerable position and I needed my job," she said. "It just increases the shame and the guilt."
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View StoryMira Sorvino Says She Was Sexually Harassed, Too
The Oscar winner, who starred in a few of Weinstein's movies, shared a tamer story of sexual harassment, but sexual harassment nonetheless.
Sorvino said she was alone with Weinstein in a hotel room at the Toronto International Film Festival in 1995 when he began massing her shoulders.
"He started massaging my shoulders, which made me very uncomfortable, and then tried to get more physical, sort of chasing me around," she said and explained she left the room. A few weeks later, Weinstein called her in the middle of the night and told her he was coming to her apartment to discuss marketing ideas for the movie they were working on together. When he showed up at her door, she told the producer her boyfriend would be joining them, which was apparently enough to ward Weinstein off. She believes her rejection led to being "iced" out of future work.
"There may have been other factors, but I definitely felt iced out and that my rejection of Harvey had something to do with it," she said.
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Weinstein in a hotel, robe and requesting or offering a massage are very common factors in what seems to be a fairly regular routine to obtain sexual favors from women.
Actress Rosanna Arquette told the New Yorker she said no and left, but not before he grabbed her hand and pulled it toward his erect penis. "I will never do that," she told the producer, who was offended and warned she was making a mistake.
"I'll never be that girl," she said.
She also felt the after effects of rejecting Weinstein, and believes she lost out on at least one job because of it.
"He made things very difficult for me for years," she said, and explained she stayed quiet in fear of him doing further damage to her career.
"He's going to be working very hard to track people down and silence people," she said. "To hurt people. That's what he does."
Police Could Have Nailed Weinstein in 2015
Ambra Battilana Gutierre, an Italian model and aspiring actress, participated in a sting operation with NYPD Special Victims unit after reporting a sexual assault incident in which he lunged at her during a meeting and groped her breasts.
While wearing a wire to record their entire exchange (which the New Yorker reported it had obtained), Weinstein pressured Gutierre to go up to his hotel room, where he admitted on tape to groping her.
"Oh, please, I'm sorry, just come on in,” Weinstein said. "I'm used to that. Come on. Please."
“You're used to that?” Gutierre asked, to which he responded, "Yes ... I won't do it again."
According to a police source, the model left the sting with enough evidence for authorities to charge the movie mogul with a count of sexual abuse in the third degree, a misdemeanor punishable by a maximum of three months in jail. But stories about her past began appearing in the tabloids, and another police source said that made the case too complicated for Manhattan District Attorney, Cyrus Vance, Jr., who concluded "a criminal charge is not supported."
"We had the evidence," one of the New Yorker's police sources said. "It's a case that made me angrier than I thought possible, and I have been on the force a long time."