The 'Riverdale' star shared that older co-worker in her previous project 'tried to force himself on me when we were on a date' and once she refused, he dubbed her 'the most manipulative woman.'
- Oct 14, 2017
AceShowbiz - In the wake of sexual assault allegations against Harvey Weinstein, women and men have opened up about their past sexual harassment in the entertaniment industry. The most recent star to share similar story is Lili Reinhart, known for her role as Betty Cooper on "Riverdale".
The 21-year-old actress wrote on her Tumblr page, "In light of the Harvey Weinstein allegations… I feel the need to share a story of my own personal experience where a man in a position of power over me, used that said power to try and take advantage of me."
"I was a teenager working on a project.. when I started to have a crush on a guy I was working with," she explained. "He was incredibly charming and charismatic-we flirted for a while before we went on our first date. He was pretty significantly older than me, but I thought of myself as mature so it didn't seem like a big deal."
While Reinhart didn't feel "comfortable giving specific details about the situation because I don't feel it's necessary," she revealed that "he tried to force himself on me when we were on a date." She added, "I had to stop him and say 'no, I don't want that,' and 'I can't do that.' "
"I physically walked away from the situation before it could get any worse. I remember feeling like this was a scene right out of a horror movie," she went on writing. "After awkward silence and me feeling completely violated and uncomfortable, he convinced me to get in his car-I assumed he was going to drive me home. I didn't have any money and couldn't afford a taxi or an Uber. So I figured it was okay."
"As we were driving, I realized he was trying to take me back to his apartment. And I knew if I made it there, something bad was going to happen to me. I told him to drop me off at my home, that I didn't want to go back to his place. He said some snarky comment but reluctantly brought me to where I was staying," she added.
Lili wrote that she tried to tell the guy about the situation, about "how uncomfortable it made me and how wrong it felt." However, "this guy proceeded to tell me that it was my fault for leading him on. Saying that 'I seemed like a sexual girl and that I'd be down for it.' That I misled him."
The man allegedly "grew angry at the situation and became defensive about it and his actions." He claimed that Lili was "a tease" and "the most manipulative woman he'd ever met" because she "refused to engage with him sexually that night."
"He refused to talk to me. I remember begging him to come outside his trailer so we could talk. I needed clarity on the situation. I felt like I had genuinely done something wrong-that maybe I really was being a tease to him and led him to believe that I wanted to be with him sexually," Lili added.
Lili opted to keep her mouth shut because "no one would believe me," and "he played a much bigger role in this project than me." She wrote, "If I said something, maybe the production would be halted… people would be put out of work. I would be looked at as dramatic and a diva, no one would want to work with me again."
Lili went on saying, "So I understand how these women feel-the women coming forward about being harassed and assaulted by Harvey Weinstein. Feeling that they'd rather keep quiet at the time than start a discussion that could lead to them being called a liar or overly dramatic," adding, "I stand with them. I believe them. I believe in standing up for yourself as a woman and coming forward about sexual harassment."
She concluded her long post, "I'm coming forward about my own experience to further express how common these assaults are in this industry and how important it is that we take action to fight against it."
