The 'Dolphin Tale' star reveals the deal she made with the disgraced movie mogul that helped her out of the situation, saying, 'I'm very blessed to be here.'
- Oct 27, 2017
AceShowbiz - Ashley Judd gave her first TV interview about alleged sexual harassment by Harvey Weinstein on "Good Morning America". Sitting down with Diane Sawyer in the pre-taped interview which aired Thursday, October 26, she broke into tears as she detailed the incident which happened in the 1990s.
"Well, first of all I'm very blessed to be here, and I know that, so thank you," the 49-year-old actress first said. "I didn't expect that I would feel tearful, but it has been an absolutely, tremendously moving two-and-a-half, three weeks."
As reported before, Judd accused Weinstein of making unwanted advances at his Peninsula Beverly Hills hotel room some 20 years ago. She said that he appeared in a bathrobe and asked if he could give her a massage. After she turned it down, he asked if she could give him a massage, which she also declined.
"I thought with this volley of no's, which he ignored...who knows? Maybe he heard them as 'maybe,' maybe he heard them as 'yeses,' maybe they turned him on," she said. "I don't know." Weinstein then asked her to pick out his suit for the day and told her to watch him shower.
Judd recalled how she got herself out of the situation by promising that she'd help him pick out his suit, "when I win an Oscar in one of your movies." She added, "He's like, 'Yeah, when you get nominated.' I said, 'No! When I win an Oscar.' And then I just fled."
Judd said she told her parents about the incident. "I don't know that I would have been believed. Who was I to tell? I knew it was disgusting. Like, was I going to tell the concierge who sent me to the room?" she said.
A few years later, she ran into the producer, who then brought up the hotel encounter. She recalled Weinstein saying, "Remember that little agreement we made? I think I've got that script for you. Hey, just looking around for the material."
"I was coming right at him ... And he looked at me, and he said, 'You know, Ashley, I'm going to let you out of that little agreement we made.' I said, 'You do that, Harvey! You do that!' And he has spat my name at me ever since," she shared.
After that encounter, Judd made two movies at Weinstein's studio but said she rarely saw the producer.
Responding to Weinstein's statement about the allegations made by her and other women, Judd said, "Trying is lying," adding that "he absolutely should go to jail." She, however, forgave him, because "I understand that you are sick and suffering, and there is help for a guy like you, too. And it's entirely up to you to get that help."
