Mira Sorvino and Rosanna Arquette Level Sexual Harassment Allegations at Harvey Weinstein

Mira Sorvino and Rosanna Arquette Level Sexual Harassment Allegations at Harvey Weinstein

Actresses Rosanna Arquette and Mira Sorvino have joined the group of women speaking out against Harvey Weinstein, revealing in a new New Yorker expose allegations of sexual harassment by the Hollywood producer.

The stars are among 13 different women who accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct to journalist Ronan Farrow in the piece, published Tuesday.

In response to the additional allegations issued against Weinstein in the New Yorker piece, a spokesperson for Weinstein said, “Any allegations of non-consensual sex are unequivocally denied by Mr. Weinstein.”

Sorvino said that her encounter with Weinstein occurred at the Toronto International Film Festival in Sept. 1995. The Oscar winner claimed she was in a hotel room with Weinstein — who she was working with on movie Mighty Aphrodite at the time — when he “started massaging my shoulders, which made me very uncomfortable, and then tried to get more physical, sort of chasing me around.” Sorvino said she made multiple excuses to deflect Weinstein’s advances, eventually leaving the room.

Just a few weeks later, the actress said she was at her N.Y.C. apartment when Weinstein called her after midnight, asking to meet to discus marketing ideas for a film. Sorvino claimed she suggested meeting at a diner, but Weinstein said he was coming to her home. The actress said she “freaked out,” calling a friend to come over and pretend to be her boyfriend. The friend didn’t arrive before Weinstein, however, according to Sorvino.

RELATED: Ashley Judd and Multiple Women Accuse Movie Mogul Harvey Weinstein of Sexual Harassment as He Announces Leave of Absence

 

“Harvey had managed to bypass my doorman,” she said. “I opened the door terrified, brandishing my twenty-pound Chihuahua mix in front of me, as though that would do any good.” After Sorvino told Weinstein her boyfriend was heading over, she claimed that the producer left.

Sorvino, now 50, told Farrow she didn’t come forward before because she felt her encounter with Weinstein was “mild compared to the experiences of other women,” he wrote. Added Sorvino, “I have great respect for Harvey as an artist, and owe him and his brother a debt of gratitude for the early success in my career, including the Oscar.”

Though she appeared in other Weinstein films afterward, Sorvino claimed that she thinks saying no to Weinstein and telling a female employee at Miramax about the harassment hurt her career. “There may have been other factors, but I definitely felt iced out and that my rejection of Harvey had something to do with it,” she alleged.

RELATED GALLERY: The Harvey Weinstein Scandal: All of the Hollywood Figures Who Have Spoken Out Against Movie Mogul

In her own account, Arquette said that her encounter with Weinstein happened in the early ’90s, when she was meant to meet the producer at the Beverly Hills Hotel to pick up a film script.

Once at the famed hotel, Arquette was directed to Weinstein’s room — where he allegedly greeted her in a bathrobe. Then, Arquette claimed, Weinstein said he needed a neck massage. “Then he grabbed my hand,” she said, explaining that she yanked it away after he placed it on his neck. But then, Weinstein allegedly grabbed it again and pulled it toward his visible and erect penis.

Arquette resisted, she told the New Yorker, reportedly telling the producer, “I will never do that.”

She claimed that in response, Weinstein told her she was making a mistake — after which, she fled the room.

“He made things very difficult for me for years,” she said, noting that she only appeared in one Weinstein film — Pulp Fiction — after the incident. Arquette, now 58, added that she didn’t speak out because of Weinstein’s alleged reputation for payback. “He’s going to be working very hard to track people down and silence people. To hurt people. That’s what he does.”

RELATED: Harvey Weinstein Allegedly Masturbated in Front of a TV Reporter

 

“Mr. Weinstein has further confirmed that there were never any acts of retaliation against any women for refusing his advances,” added a spokesperson for the producer on Tuesday in wake of the New Yorker piece. “Mr. Weinstein obviously can’t speak to anonymous allegations, but with respect to any women who have made allegations on the record, Mr. Weinstein believes that all of these relationships were consensual. Mr. Weinstein has begun counseling, has listened to the community and is pursuing a better path. Mr. Weinstein is hoping that, if he makes enough progress, he will be given a second chance.”

The Weinstein sexual misconduct scandal was first revealed by The New York TimesEight women, including actress Ashley Judd, came forward in the NYT story to accuse the film mogul of sexual misconduct. He was subsequently fired from his company as numerous Hollywood stars have spoken out against him.


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