Saturday, October 21, 2017

Game of Thrones' Lena Headey claims she was harassed by Harvey Weinstein, accuses Terry Gilliam of 'bullying'

Lena Heady

Game of Thrones' Lena Headey claims she was harassed by Harvey Weinstein, accuses Terry Gilliam of 'bullying'

Harvey Weinstein made repeated sexual advances towards Game of Thrones star Lena Headey that left her feeling "powerless", the actress has claimed in a statement released on Twitter.

The 44-year-old English actress, who plays Cersei Lannister in the HBO fantasy series, claims the producer was "furious" when she rebuffed him, and that after "grabbing and holding tightly to the back of [Headey's] arm", he ordered her not to tell anyone about his actions.

In an aside, Headey also accused former Monty Python member Terry Gilliam of "bullying" her on the set of his 2005 film The Brothers Grimm, in which she starred.

Weinstein, 65, is currently under investigation by Scotland Yard for at least four allegations of sexual assault and rape.

Headey's statement reads, in full:

"The first time I met Harvey Weinstein was at The Venice Film Festival. The Brothers Grimm was showing there (during shooting I was subjected to endless bullying by the director Terry Gilliam) At one point Harvey asked me to take a walk down to the water, I walked down with him and he stopped and made some suggestive comment, a gesture, I just laughed it off, I was genuinely shocked, I remember thinking, it's got to be a joke, I said something like.. oh come on mate?!?? it'd be like kissing my dad !! let's go get a drink, get back to the others. I was never in any other Miramax film.

"The next time was in LA. Years later. I had always carried the thought that he'd never try anything with me again, not after I'd laughed and said never in a million years. I believed that he respected my boundary and maybe he wanted to talk about potential work.

"He asked me to meet for breakfast. We ate breakfast, we talked about films, film making. He asked me a few questions about the state of my love life. I shifted the conversation back to something less personal. Then he went to the loo. He came back and said, let's go up to the room, I want to give you a script. We walked to the lift and the energy shifted, my whole body went into high alert, the lift was going up and I said to Harvey, I'm not interested in anything other than work, please don't think I got in here with you for any other reason, nothing is going to happen I said. I don't know what possessed me to speak out at that moment, only that I had such a strong sense of don't come near me.

"He was silent after I spoke, furious. We got out of the lift and walked to his room. His hand was on my back, he was marching me forward, not a word, I felt completely powerless, he tried his key card and it didn't work, then he got really angry. He walked me back to the lift, through the hotel to the valet, by grabbing and holding tightly to the back of my arm, he paid for my car and whispered in my ear Don't tell anyone about this, not your manager, not your agent.

"I got into my car and I cried."

Weinstein has faced a slew of similar accusations in recent days, with actresses including Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Beckinsale and Angelina Jolie stepping forward with allegations of being mistreated by the Oscar-winning producer.

These accounts follow a New York Times exposé published on October 6 which detailed decades of alleged sexual harassment, and reported that Weinstein had reached financial settlements at least eight women to avoid litigation.

Though Weinstein has yet to issue a statement in response to Headey's account, he has denied all accusations of non-consensual sex, and threatened a defamation lawsuit against the New York Times over “false and defamatory statements” made in their original report.

The Shakespeare in Love producer has also released a general apology for his "behaviour", without referencing any specific allegations. "I appreciate the way I’ve behaved with colleagues in the past has caused a lot of pain, and I sincerely apologize for it," the statement read. He has since been expelled from the Oscars board, and fired from his film production business The Weinstein Company.

The Telegraph has approached Terry Gilliam's

representatives for comment.

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