Jennifer Lawrence: ‘I did not experience any form of harassment’ from Weinstein
Jennifer Lawrence is one of the latest – and now one of the last – of the young actresses whose careers were significantly helped by Harvey Weinstein. Jennifer shocked the Hollywood establishment by waging a successful Oscar campaign for Best Actress for Silver Linings Playbook in 2013 – while she had been previously nominated for Winter’s Bone, Weinstein definitely pushed J-Law for SLP and he’s a big reason why she won that year and why she lives such a gilded existence as America’s Farty Sweetheart. That was the branding Weinstein employed for her during that campaign, and it stuck. Many people have theorized that J-Law traded favors with Harvey to get where she is now. I understand why the idle speculation exists, but I also think we should be really careful about how we talk about casting couches and abuse of power. Anyway, J-Law has issued a statement about Harvey Weinstein:
Jennifer Lawrence said she never witnessed any inappropriate behavior from Harvey Weinstein, but she nevertheless joined the chorus of actresses who spoke out on Monday about the mogul’s alleged sexual harassment of multiple women over three decades.
“I was deeply disturbed to hear the news about Harvey Weinstein’s behavior,” Lawrence said in a statement to Variety. “I worked with Harvey five years ago and I did not experience any form of harassment personally, nor did I know about any of these allegations. This kind of abuse is inexcusable and absolutely upsetting.”
She added, “My heart goes out to all of the women affected by these gross actions. And I want to thank them for their bravery to come forward.”
It feels like Meryl Streep gave everyone the blueprint for what to say, right? All of these women have come out in the wake of Meryl’s statement and they’re taking their cues from her. Anyway, I believe Jennifer, I believe that she doesn’t believe that she was personally harassed by Harvey Weinstein. I also believe that arrogant, abusive, douchey men are drawn to J-Law like moths to a flame. Between Harvey Weinstein, David O. Russell and Darren Aronofsky, I just think Jennifer has an exceptionally high tolerance for what she’ll put up with and where she’ll turn a blind eye.
Meanwhile, another actress who dealt with Harvey Weinstein at a very young age has a completely different take on her experience. Romola Garai met Weinstein when she was only 18 years old. This is what happened:
“Like every other woman in the industry, I’ve had an ‘audition’ with Harvey Weinstein, where I’d actually already had the audition but you had to be personally approved by him,” said Garai. “So I had to go to his hotel room in the Savoy, and he answered the door in his bathrobe. I was only 18. I felt violated by it, it has stayed very clearly in my memory.”
Garai, who has starred in films like”Atonement” and “Suffragette,” said that during the encounter all she had to do was sit in a chair and discuss film with Weinstein, but the encounter nonetheless left her feeling “violated.”
“The transaction was just that I was there,” said Garai. “The point was that he could get a young woman to do that, that I didn’t have a choice, that it was humiliating for me and that he had the power. It was an abuse of power.”
I have a feeling that Jennifer Lawrence probably has several versions of this kind of story but she chooses not to believe that this behavior is inappropriate or gross. Romola is absolutely correct though – “The transaction was just that I was there. The point was that he could get a young woman to do that, that I didn’t have a choice…” Yep.
PS… Please do not threadjack. There are so many stories about and around this Weinstein mess, and I will get to them. Please have faith in the gossip system and don’t derail comment threads with something which will discussed in a separate post. As always, you can email me at kaiser@celebitchy.com or tweet at me @KaiseratCB.
Photos courtesy of Getty, WENN.
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