Rose McGowan has published details of her sexual harassment claims against Harvey Weinstein.
The 44-year-old actress came forward with her allegations against the disgraced producer late last year, and now, in her new book ‘Brave’ – published globally on January 30 – the ‘Charmed’ star claims Weinstein lured her to a hotel room where he pinned her down on the edge a jacuzzi and performed oral sex on her, whilst simultaneously pleasuring himself.
McGowan writes that she first met the movie producer, who she calls "the Monster", when she was 23, at a screening of her film ‘Going All the Way’ during the 1997 Sundance film festival in Utah.
She describes how Weinstein, then 44, invited her to a meeting at a restaurant before changing the venue to his hotel suite.
McGowan writes: "I was certain we would be working together for many years to come, and we were here to plot out the grand arc of my career."
But instead, after a brief discussion of her career, McGowan alleges Weinstein pushed her into the bathroom and pulled her clothes off.
Writing about how she felt afterwards the actress said: "I felt so dirty. I had been so violated and I was sad to the core of my being. I kept thinking about how he’d been sitting behind me in the theater the night before it happened. Which made it – not my responsibility, exactly, but – like I had had a hand in tempting him. Which made it even sicker and made me feel dirtier."
McGowan said that immediately after the alleged assault, she attended a photo shoot for her film ‘Phantom’, where she claims she told a co-star what happened.
The co-star, who has previously been identified by McGowan as Ben Affleck, reportedly said: "Goddamnit. I told him to stop doing that."
When news of the assault claims against Weinstein first surfaced in late 2017, Affleck denied knowing about his former producer’s behaviour – and McGowan called him a liar.
McGowan has previously called the alleged assault "rape," and says she stands by that description, even if the law doesn’t recognise it as such.
The 44-year-old actress writes: "Rape to me is any violation of my body. If you enter my body via tongue, fingers, penis, object without my consent, that to me is rape and I need no law telling me what I know to be true."
Weinstein has since been accused by over 80 victims of sexual assault and harassment, many who claimed he asked them to visit his hotel rooms.
A spokesperson for Weinstein said at the time of the allegations: "Any allegations of non-consensual sex are unequivocally denied by Mr Weinstein. Mr Weinstein has further confirmed that there were never any acts of retaliation against any women for refusing his advances.
"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."
Rose McGowan details Harvey Weinstein assault allegations in new book
