Gwyneth Paltrow is speaking out about a run-in with Harvey Weinstein as more disturbing information emerges over the Hollywood heavyweight.
Around 1995/1996, when she was filming Emma, the then-22-year-old was allegedly summoned to his suite at the Peninsula Beverly Hills for a meeting and suggested they give one another massages in the bedroom.
“I was a kid, I was signed up, I was petrified,” the now 45-year-old told New York Times.
The interview, which was published on Tuesday, October 10, claimed that the starlet turned to her then-boyfriend Brad Pitt for help.
Gwyneth decided it was time to speak out.
Brad has confirmed the story, but has provided no other comment.
One source told Us Weekly when Brad learned about what had happened, he “very clearly and strongly and unequivocally” confronted the movie mogul at a party.
Another insider explained to People that the former husband of Angelina Jolie made his stance crystal clear.
“Brad threatened Harvey,” the source recounted.
“He got right in his face, poked him in the chest and said, ‘You will not ever do this to Gwyneth ever again.’”
Before adding that Brad, who was raised in Springfield, Missouri, “made it clear there would be consequences” if the movie mogul tried anything again, and “described it as giving Harvey a ‘Missouri whooping.'”
“He made it absolutely clear this was not going to happen again and it didn’t.”
On Harvey’s part, at the time he “tried to explain, then he stopped and listened and got the message.”
The couple dated between 1994 and 1997.
The insider added that Brad wasn’t the superstar we know today, describing his actions as “taking a big risk. He was a young guy in Hollywood taking a chance.”
“He’s one of the only men in Hollywood who stood up and said something. That’s a fact.”
As for Gwyneth, she was told to never speak of the incident again.
She recalled how she received a call from the now-fired head of The Weinstein Company.
“I thought he was going to fire me,” she told the paper.
“He screamed at me for a long time. It was brutal.”
Gwyenth with Hillary Clinton and Harvey back in 1998.
Escaping Harvey was unavoidable, with Gwyneth working with him again in the Weinstein-produced Shakespeare in Love – which earned her the 1999 Best Actress Oscar.
Despite everything, one friend of the actress said she feels “relieved and pleased to have spoken out.”
Gwyneth stated, “We’re at a point in time when women need to send a clear message that this is over. This way of treating women ends now.”
“I had a bad experience with Harvey Weinstein in my youth, and as a result, chose never to work with him again,” Angelina Jolie has said.
Angelina Jolie has also revealed she had an incident with Harvey when she was filming Playing by Heart in the late ’90s.
“I had a bad experience with Harvey Weinstein in my youth, and as a result, chose never to work with him again and warn others when they did,” Angelina confirmed to The New York Times.
“This behavior towards women in any field, any country is unacceptable,” the mother-of-six added.
Meanwhile, Brad crossed paths with the producer years later for the 2009 Weinstein Company released and Harvey executive produced Inglourious Basterds.
Gwyenth won her first Oscar in the Weinstein-produced Shakespeare in Love.
Brad had to work with the producer for his film Inglourious Basterds.
“He did Inglourious Basterds because of his relationship with Quentin Tarantino, and had nothing to do with Harvey,” an insider revealed to People.
Last week, the New York Times reported eight women — including actress Ashley Judd — spoke out against Weinstein, accusing him of sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior.
The article revealed that the Hollywood icon reached eight private settlements with eight women, including actress Rose McGowan.
Harvey has now been fired from his company.
Just days later, The New Yorker published a new story, revealing 13 different women’s accounts of alleged sexual harassment, assault or rape.
The piece, written by Ronan Farrow – the son of Mia Farrow and Woody Allen, details a series of disturbing allegations including Weinstein performing unwanted oral sex, forcing oral sex to be performed on him, and forcing vaginal sex – including allegedly forcing himself on Italian actress Asia Argento two decades ago.
A spokesperson for Harvey has stated, “Any allegations of non-consensual sex are unequivocally denied by Mr. Weinstein.”
