For the first time since going public with her Harvey Weinstein sexual harassment allegations, actor Ashley Judd is speaking out.
Judd appeared on Good Morning America on Thursday, and she spoke candidly with Diane Sawyer about her alleged experiences with the disgraced producer in a Beverly Hills hotel.
(Weinstein, who’s been accused of sexual harassment or assault by at least 52 women over the last several weeks, denied all allegations of non-consensual sex through his representative.)
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Judd starred in the 1997 Weinstein-produced movie Kiss the Girls, and according to the actor, she met him at the hotel while the movie was shooting.
Even though she was supposed to meet Weinstein for breakfast, Judd said to the New York Times that she was told at the last minute that her meeting was moved to his suite.
Shortly after she arrived at his room, Judd claims that Weinstein started making sexual overtures, asking if he could give her a massage and a shoulder rub before asking if she would watch him shower.
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“I said no, a lot of ways, a lot of times, and he always came back at me with some new ask,” Judd said. “It was all this bargaining, this coercive bargaining.”
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She claims she agreed to have a relationship with him only when she won an Oscar, but it was only a means of escape.
“Finally, I just said when I win an Oscar in one of your movies, OK?” she said.
Judd says she managed to escape the room without further incident. Afterwards, she went on to star in two more Weinstein productions.
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“What I would say to Harvey is, I love you and I understand you are sick and suffering,” Judd said. “And there is help for a guy like you, and it is up to you to get that.”
Judd’s interview with Sawyer marks the first time any of Weinstein’s alleged victims have spoken on TV about their charges.
Ranging from A-list actors to young up-and-comers, women of all stripes have emerged to accuse 65-year-old Weinstein, substantiating the supposed “open secret” of his behaviour towards women.
(Watch the GMA interview in the video, above.)
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