The 'Spectre' actress recounts the night Weinstein tried to kiss her and calls out other directors for their inappropriate behaviors.
- Oct 12, 2017
AceShowbiz - Lea Seydoux was one of the victims of sexual abuse by Harvey Weinstein, so the actress claims. In an op-ed for The Guardian, the French actress details her encounter with the former studio exec who has been hit with sexual abuse allegations.
Seydoux says she first met Weinstein at a fashion show, where he insisted that they had to make an appointment the same night. While she knew what Weinstein's intention was, she agreed to meet him in the lobby of his hotel. His female assistant joined them at first.
"All throughout the evening, he flirted and stared at me as if I was a piece of meat. He acted as if he were considering me for a role. But I knew that was bulls**t," she wrote. "He invited me to come to his hotel room for a drink. We went up together. It was hard to say no because he's so powerful."
"Soon, his assistant left and it was just the two of us," Seydoux goes on recalling. And that's when Weinstein started to make inappropriate moves toward the "Spectre" star. "We were talking on the sofa when he suddenly jumped on me and tried to kiss me. I had to defend myself. He's big and fat, so I had to be forceful to resist him. I left his room, thoroughly disgusted," she recounts.
Seydoux says after that night she met Weinstein on many other occasions. She witnessed "how he operates" and "the way he tests women to see what he can get away with." Describing him as a man who uses his power to get what he wants, she also dubs him a misogynist. "You'd be better if you lost weight," he once told Seydoux, according to the 32-year-old actress.
Seydoux claims Weinstein was trying to hit on a different young woman in London and at the Met Life Ball. She was disgusted that people "knew what Harvey was up to and no one did anything."
But Weinstein isn't the only one who abuses his power in the industry. The Palme d'Or winner opens up about her experiences working with another director who tried to kiss her, one other who said to her, "I wish I could have sex with you, I wish I could f**k you," and another who would film very long sex scenes that lasted days and replayed the scenes over and over again.
She then urges other women in the industry to defend themselves. "If you're a woman working in the film industry, you have to fight because it is a very misogynistic world," she notes. "Hollywood is incredibly demanding on women."
She concludes it by writing, "This industry is based on desirable actresses. You have to be desirable and loved. But not all desires have to be fulfilled, even though men in the industry have an expectation that theirs should be. I think - and hope - that we might finally see a change. Only truth and justice can bring us forward."
Seydoux is the latest star who comes out against Weinstein. Angelina Jolie, Cara Delevingne and Gwyneth Paltrow recently opened up about getting harassed by the disgraced movie mogul, while Ashley Judd was the first actress to share her story about his alleged sexual misconduct.
Meanwhile, Lindsay Lohan has clarified her comment about Harvey Weinstein. She initially seemed to defend him as saying, "He's never harmed me or did anything to me - we've done several movies together. I think everyone needs to stop - I think it's wrong. So stand up."
She later tells Daily Mail, "I am saddened to hear about the allegations against my former colleague Harvey Weinstein. As someone who has lived their life in the public eye, I feel that allegations should always be made to the authorities and not played out in the media." She adds, "I encourage all women who believe Harvey harmed them to report their experiences to the relevant authorities."
