Jessica Chastain has praised Salma Hayek for speaking out about her alleged encounter with Harvey Weinstein.
The ‘Frida’ actress recently claimed in an essay for the New York Times that she was forced to turn down a number of sexual advances made by the disgraced producer – who has been accused of sexually harassing over 80 women in a 30-year period – throughout her career, including "letting him give [her] a massage" and "letting him give [her] oral sex".
Since the essay was published, 40-year-old actress Jessica has come forward to praise the piece as "moving", and to dub Salma, 51, as "incredible".
Speaking to ‘Extra’, the ‘Molly’s Game’ star said: "That was so moving, that op-ed she wrote, and it really goes to show its so important what is happening right now with all these women coming forward and talking about their stories and talking about the walls that they faced in their industry.
"What I got from that article is: Man, Salma Hayek, not only is she an incredible actress … but what a great producer she is. Reading all those hoops she was jumping through, how she got her movie made. I thank goodness for her and I’m so grateful she is in our industry. I hope that what’s happening now will create lasting change for more artists like Salma Hayek to have an opportunity to tell stories."
In her article, Salma claims the 65-year-old producer told her she was "nobody" when they first began working together, and he had made her feel "validated" when she was cast in his movies.
She wrote: "When so many women came forward to describe what Harvey had done to them, I had to confront my cowardice and humbly accept that my story, as important as it was to me, was nothing but a drop in an ocean of sorrow and confusion. I felt that by now nobody would care about my pain – maybe this was an effect of the many times I was told, especially by Harvey, that I was nobody.
"I was so excited to work with him and that company. In my naïveté, I thought my dream had come true. He had validated the last 14 years of my life. He had taken a chance on me – a nobody. He had said yes.
"Little did I know it would become my turn to say no. No to opening the door to him at all hours of the night, hotel after hotel, location after location, where he would show up unexpectedly, including one location where I was doing a movie he wasn’t even involved with. No to me taking a shower with him. No to letting him watch me take a shower. No to letting him give me a massage. No to letting a naked friend of his give me a massage. No to letting him give me oral sex. No to my getting naked with another woman. No, no, no, no, no."
Just hours after the article was published, a spokesperson for Weinstein issued a statement claiming the producer "does not recall" pressuring the star to do a "gratuitous sex scene" on the set of ‘Frida’, but did not address her other allegations.
Jessica Chastain praises Salma Hayek’s bravery
