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Weinstein was involved in so many projects and business dealings and thankfully a lot of those are now falling through. He’s surely frantically trying to save his failing empire as he lounges in that luxury resort in Arizona. Poor predator having to face minor consequences for raping, abusing and ruining women’s careers for decades. As Kaiser mentioned he probably won’t spend a day in jail. Now that we’re learning about the extent of Weinstein’s reach and power it’s making me sick to think of all his potential victims. He was an executive producer on Project Runway, where his wife, Marchesa founder Georgina Chapman, was often a guest judge. In the wake of the news about Weinstein, Heidi Klum, also an executive producer and the host of PR, has issued a general statement. Heidi doesn’t say whether she heard about Weinstein prior to this and she doesn’t say whether he was inappropriate toward her. She should not have to specify either of those things, I’m just saying she did not and chose to put out a more general statement about male abuse of power and the prevalence of harassment in the workplace.
“I wish I could say that the horrible stories I read about Harvey Weinstein are a rare occurrence in our society, but that is simply not the case. We would be naive to think that this behavior only happens in Hollywood,” Klum, 44, tells PEOPLE exclusively.
“This is one example of the more pervasive problem of the mistreatment of women around the world. I think it would be hard to find a woman – myself included – who have not had an experience where they have felt intimidated or threatened by a man using his power, position or his physical stature,” the Project Runway host and judge says.
“I truly admire these brave women who are coming forward to share their stories because change cannot come unless there is a dialogue and people are held accountable,” she concludes.
Klum’s statements come after Weinstein, 65, was stripped of his executive producer credit on the Lifetime reality show competition.
Since Project Runway‘s premiere in 2012, the movie mogul’s former studio, The Weinstein Company, has been co-producing the show along with Bunim-Murray Productions.
A source tells PEOPLE it’s unclear what will happen going forward as TWC owns a majority in Project Runway.
Weinstein’s wife, Marchesa designer Georgina Chapman has often appeared on the show as a guest judge since 2012.
“Production is already completed on the next season of Project Runway All Stars with Georgina,” a rep for the reality Lifetime series confirmed to PEOPLE Thursday. “We have yet to determine an airdate.”
Maybe I’m too sensitive at this point (I’ve been mainlining Ben and Jerrys I’ve been so upset over this story) but it sounds like she’s saying something similar to “this happens in every industry to every woman so Weinstein isn’t anything special.” Some will appreciate that perspective though. She could be holding her tongue out of respect for Georgina, she’s probably friends with her. Heidi has surely seen and been through some sh-t, especially working in the modeling industry. She doesn’t sound very hopeful that things will change. I get that, but part of me is hoping that this is a watershed moment for women, that Hollywood, which sets so many trends while reflecting society, is changing enough that we’re going to see more widespread understanding of women’s rights and less tolerance for harassment and workplace discrimination. That’s probably a f-ing pipe dream though. Things just seem to keep getting worse this year.
Slight thread-jack: I hope the writing staff here have a vat of wine for the weekend and industrial amounts of chocolate, it must be very draining to keep writing this stuff this week. Thanks for the good work everyone on a tough topic.
Yes, CB is the only place I go to read about this.
Agree, treat yourselves well CB writers (and readers). To have to move from the onslaught of Trump stories to the onslaught of Weinstein stories — I know it’s your job, but your job originally meant writing about petty celebrity beefs, award shows and pretty dresses, not sexual and other physical assault, violations of male power and privilege, and the perversion of American democracy. Thanks for giving us clear information and a place to safely vent and support one another in this collective outpouring of disgust and revelation.
I can’t vent on FB because our posts show up to our “friend list”, and I can assure that list has shrunk considerably. Also, the trolls are truly damaging, I had a nightmare last night about one in particular. CB I really thank you for genuine reporting, meaning, a genuine “take” on the most accurate information available. I also value the “weeding out” of trolls and inane feedback. Really. Thanks.
I agree. You all have done a great job with all of this, and I know it hasn’t been easy. I also come here first to read the updates.
I’ll chime in too. Thanks for covering this so well and so responsibly, guys. These are tough stories, but I feel like I need to read it all and I’d much rather read it from you than from a more salacious, less sympathetic source.
Yes. Big THANK YOU from me, too.
Agreed! I try to avoid reading about this too much, apart from the original NYT and New Yorker pieces I read about this story on CB. And you are doing a great job tracking the story. I hope you do have a relaxing weekend because it muat be dreadfull to write about this everyday. With Trump and this, unfortunatelly, entertainment news becase not a way to escape or relax. I miss the times when for me reading this site was a way to relax during lunch.
I guess I’m a little more forgiving of boilerplate coming from the women who’ve been asked rather than the men. I don’t know if Heidi falls into this category, but I suspect there will be some women asked who have been victims but who don’t wish to tell their stories publicly for various reasons, so I’m inclined to go easy on all the women who haven’t explicitly enabled him.
I can’t forgive Heidi for anything – boilerplate or no.
She and her crew are treating girls horribly on “Germany’s Next Top Model”. She’s been called out repeatedly in the German press, about the way she talks about girls on her show, about misogynists on her staff, about exploiting underage girls, and on the way things are presented on TV. She never, ever acknowledged any of it.
I know nothing about her behavior there, and agree she should be condemned if she did those things.
Totally agree. Not sure how often she tells underage girls on her show that they have to get naked or have to kiss strange men, because “If you want to be a model you have to do those things”. That on top of the whole exploitation and misogyny of the model industry.
That happened on ANTM as well, Season One. The girls had to be naked, and one was threatened that if she did not, she’d get kicked off. She refused, and was sent home.
But it was Jay Manuel was trying to convince her, it was VERY uncomfortable to watch. It was sexual harassment. She was clearly distraught and they acted like it was her fault, blamed her, and punished her.
Tyra got away with it, Jay Manuel got away with it.
I cannot even recall how many times I’ve been asked to get naked at shoots. And I was small time. I think at least 75 percent of shoots I was asked to get naked/topless. And I stated that I only will do implied topless. And still they pressure it.
She doesn’t have the best reputation in Germany and I was surprised by that but she has never been a favorite and her taste in men is ??? but she made good comments here.
To me her first few sentences sound like the general exhaustion with all this bullshit many women currently feel? She’s not letting Harvey of the hook because he IS nothing special. The comments section here and on every site I have visited are filled with stories about the casual every day harassment women AND men face in the workplace. So, yeah, I’m with Heid: It’s not surprising, none of us are naive enough to think there aren’t 50 other Harvey Weinsteins inviting a young actress to their hotel rooms right this minute.
She also confirms that it has happened to her personally and other than taking his producer credit off the show what to we want from her? Shutting down her show would just be a punishment for herself.
I got the same sense as you–utter exhaustion. You know she’s dealt with that crap all her life as a gorgeous woman (or, you know, as a woman in the workforce. Hell, as a woman, period). Reading her words, I didn’t think “dismissal”–I thought of the crap I’ve seen in academia and research communities (two glaring instances that affected me personally, never mind what I know friends and colleagues have dealt with). It felt like a moment of exhausted, compassionate sisterhood to me.
I agree.
Honestly I can’t imagine what sort of abuse and harassment models must face. I’m sure she’s exhausted by all this too. I’m glad she made a statement.
Yeah, I don’t have a problem with it because she’s right. It does happen to all women in every industry. If we treat Weinstein as an anomaly, nothing will change. Heidi (and others) stating the obvious, that all women have to deal with this crap, is how we will change the culture that allows this. It’s not just one disgusting pig; it’s a culture of harassment.
I am a teacher, and I just had a male teacher question me about having an activity on a Sunday, because of “going to church.” First of all, the kids picked Sunday, most are not religious, and I had already told any student who had to go to Church that they were exempt. And it was NONE of his business.
I explained all this, and asked him why he was messing in my business? He said to me, “Well, I’m SATISFIED with your answer.”
Excuse me?? SATISFIED?? I don’t work for him, who the F is he to be satisfied or not with my answer. Grrrrr…..in my school, we put up with a ton of sexism. Not sexual harassment, but so much male privilege it makes me sick.
Maybe there were some women that he didn’t try anything with. Women that he for some reason considered off limits because of his wife, or some other reason i can’t think of right now. I mean Blake Lively wore a Marchesa wedding dress. She must have liked her designs to do that right? I don’t know. Im trying.
Perhaps he avoided his wife’s friends on the assumption they would tell her.
He skipped some only cos he was too bored or too whatever. He does not care about his wife. It is business for both. She got power and fame he got eye candy.
Heidi is saying little cos its her show. She cannot attack her own show and i get it. Imagine all the time she was in abusive situations…
They have 2 children together so she still had sex with him! Lol
I must admid, I actually like the first part of her statment.
A lot of pare making statements about Weinstein and his system of abuse, but I thin she is the fist to say, that these kind of Systems are basically everywhere in the entertainment industrie (and other industries), and we have to adress the problems in the whole system.
Heidi doesn’t exactly takes care of her “girls” when she is making Germanys Next Topmodel and they are being forced to do things for the camera that make them appear in a certain light. For example, they take their phones away, and the models when being interviewed have to repeat and include the question in their answers and some of this situations are deliberatley constructed to make them look like bitches or like disturbers etc. She approfites from this in this show where eyerything is her decision and should be held accountable for that. Her business decions don’t imply that she cares for anybody else than herself. So her statement in this situation makes me go hmmm, no. She does not harass them sexually but the pressure she sets them under and the way it’s done is not what I would call responsible workingplace behaviour towards people and young girls who are working for you. She is different on project runway where others reign her in.
No doubt Donna Karan would have something to say about what Heidi’s “asking for” based on how she’s dressed in a couple of these pix w/HW.
HW is a predator, keep the focus on him.
There’s nothing wrong with her statement, HW isn’t special, so many women (it seems like almost every working women I’ve ever talked to, even some men) has had someone who was a little too flirty, touchy or made them uncomfortable. So creepy, crappy jerks are not at all special.
Why do people expect more from HK, who doesn’t have to say anything in the first place? I expect more from men like Harvey to not put women in these situations. Why must she talk about thier friendship or years of work if she obviously doesn’t want too?
Harvey is the piece of shit, Not the women who choose to speak out and further the conversation.
Why must we analyze and grade what everyone says?
What do people want?
Do ppl only want people to speak out but only word it in a way that they can accept? It’s their truth.
Because if X,Y, Z celeb didn’t speak out ppl would be asking to hear from them.
“Why must we analyze and grade what everyone says?”
Good point. This is the only aspect of the story that I’m getting tired of. If people are just now jumping on the bandwagon, fine. So be it. Welcome. We’ll be watching to make sure you stay on.
Yass Heidi, preach.
What I’m getting from her statement is that she doesn’t have any personal T on Harvey, but now that his crimes have come to light, let’s focus on what created him, because he is not the only monster out there.
Reading all of the celebrity comments and statements, I’m waiting for that one celeb who, instead of a carefully articulated speech, just says,”Weinstein? Yeah, f–k that a–hole. Special corner of hell just waiting for him.”
“Let’s focus” = “Let’s dismantle this whole broken system that allows the Harvey Weinsteins of the world to go unchecked.” , does not = “Let’s ignore what Harvey did.”
Just for clarification
When she said this happens in other industries too, she could have meant modelling.
I would wager, based on my own experiences and other women that I have spoken with, that 90% of women, if not 100%, have a creepy man story in their background. My first creepy man story happened when I was six. Police became involved. And I had to leave a job at 22 because of the sales’ manager’s harassment of me. No, not Hollywood – construction equipment rental! I was living 1200 miles from my family, supporting myself, and I had to quit my secretarial job to get rid of this @ss. I didn’t go to the company owner because I was young and figured I’d be the one to get dumped anyway. Not the last time it happened either. And of course, there have been many other date rape attempts, men in trench coats, etc. I carry a lot of anger from these experiences I believe.
Trump getting elected gave every predator boss a green light to continue with his gross abusive behavior. I’m hoping that as this story spreads to other industries, men will start falling like dominos. Keep hoping more women will come forward about trump, but maybe wishful thinking. Sorry for your experiences, all of us know what you’re talking about and have stories of our own.
Well, one thing is for certain: If women don’t fight back things really will never change.
Um, Project Runway has been around since way before 2012.
I took a double take at that as well because I knew it had been on longer.
PR: All Stars started in 2012 – the show that Georgina has been a judge on since the first season.
It moved to lifetime in 2012 and that’s when I assume Weinstein company took it over. Before it was on bravo and probably owned by them? It’s gotten really downscale, but I still love Tim Gunn and watching designers create something. Hate the fake drama though.
This phenomenon of predatory men occurs in every aspect of life. It is disgusting! I can’t wait for this to be resolved, just so the pictures of “that hideous man” are no longer everywhere I click. Is it too much to hope that I never see that face or hear that name again?