Harvey Weinstein said he “never” assaulted Angelina Jolie, contradicting what she recently reiterated in her interview with The Guardian ahead of the release of her new book ‘Know Your Rights and Claim Them’.
Weinstein, who is currently serving a 23-year-long sentence for first degree sexual assault and third degree rape, called Jolie’s accusations a mere PR stunt:
“It's very clear to me that this is for more sales on Angie's book. There was never an assault, and never an attempt to assault,” Weinstein told TMZ through his assistant. "It is brazenly untrue and clickbait publicity.”
According to the scandal-ridden producer, “every male and female in the world” probably shows an interest in Angeline Jolie. “Is the whole world assaulting you?" the convicted sex offender quipped.
Jolie previously claimed that she'd had a “bad experience” with Weinstein when she was 21 years old, as the producer of ‘Playing by Heart’ had apparently propositioned her in a hotel room back in 1998.
The actress told The Guardian this week that she considers Weinstein’s pass to have been an outright assault.
“If you get yourself out of the room, you think he attempted but didn’t, right? The truth is that the attempt and the experience of the attempt is an assault.”
“I really don’t want to derail the book into stories about Harvey,” Jolie went on. “It was. It was beyond a pass, it was something I had to escape. I stayed away and warned people about him.”
In this Feb. 24, 2020, file photo, Harvey Weinstein arrives at a Manhattan courthouse as jury deliberations continue in his rape trial in New York. The disgraced Hollywood film mogul and convicted rapist is asking a bankruptcy judge in Delaware to allow him to pursue arbitration in New York over what he claims is his wrongful termination from the company he co-founded.
© AP Photo / Seth Wenig
The 'Maleficent’ star added that it was “hard” seeing her ex-husband Brad Pitt starring in Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Inglorious Bastards’, which was co-produced by Weinstein’s film empire as she had chosen to disassociate herself from the movie mogul completely. She was also apparently “hurt” by Pitt’s desire to work with the Weinstein Company on ‘Killing Them Softly' despite knowing her history with the producer: “We fought about it. Of course it hurt.”
Jolie and Pitt divorced in 2016 after two years of marriage and a 12-year relationship, with the actress claiming that the decision was made for “the well-being of my family”.
The Oscar-winning actress is just one among many Hollywood celebrities who had accused Weinstein of assaulting them or making indecent proposals. Gwyneth Paltrow, another ex of Brad Pitt, said Weinstein asked her to give him a massage in a hotel suit after casting her in 1996’s ‘Emma’ movie and “screamed” at her when she refused. “It was brutal," the actress recalled. Paltrow said she told Pitt about what had happened and her then-boyfriend confronted the producer.
Salma Hayek, Rose McGowan, Ashley Judd and Cara Delevingne also accused Weinstein of assaulting them or making unwanted sexual advances, that sometimes included threats.