Whenever I read an update on the various criminal charges or civil suits against Harvey Weinstein, I get depressed. I’m really worried that Weinstein is going to end up largely unpunished for his decades of sexual harassment, sexual abuse, sexual assault and rape. I’m really worried that while Weinstein has “lost his career,” he’ll never see the inside of a jail cell, and he’ll basically live out his life in semi-retirement in Europe or whatever. So I’m happy that women are still suing him and pressing charges and really trying to make him pay for his decades of abuse. One woman – who is unnamed in court papers, going only by Jane Doe – has sued Weinstein, claiming that he sexually abused her for years. The details of the lawsuit are horrific – you can read Doe’s claims here.
Within the filing, Doe claims that one of the ways Weinstein tried to talk her into sleeping with him was by bragging about how he slept with Jennifer Lawrence. After he initially assaulted Doe at Sundance in 2013, months later they met again and this happened:
Later that year, she claims they met in NYC to discuss a film called, “Vampire Academy.” They had a dinner meeting and afterward they went to his office, and Doe claims he kneeled in front of her and forcibly performed oral sex on her. In the suit, she says she was sobbing … and Weinstein responded by saying, “I slept with Jennifer Lawrence and look where she is; she has just won an Oscar.”
I believe Doe’s story – that Weinstein forced himself on her and bragged/lied about J-Law – because it’s keeping with a million other stories we’ve heard about Weinstein. Many of his victims said that Weinstein’s M.O. was to “brag” about his “conquests” to them. Just as many stories involved Weinstein forcibly performing oral sex. After Doe’s lawsuit was filed, Jennifer Lawrence issued a statement through her rep:
“My heart breaks for all the women who were victimized by Harvey Weinstein. I have never had anything but a professional relationship with him. This is yet another example of the predatory tactics and lies that he engaged in to lure countless women.”
Weinstein also released a statement, wherein he whines about how Jane Doe is “defaming” him, etc. Whatever. I believe Jane Doe. And I believe Jennifer Lawrence too – I always believed her. I don’t think Weinstein ever assaulted her or pursued her or whatever. At most, I think he probably said inappropriate things to her, things which would be considered sexual harassment, stuff that Jennifer (and other women) would have minimized to herself, you know? As we saw with Darren Aronofsky and David O. Russell, Jennifer tends to not understand when powerful men are being abusive towards her.
Photos courtesy of Getty.
#IBelieveThem. Weinstein is most definitely the type of calculating scumbag who would falsely accuse an actress he’d worked with of sleeping with him in order to use her success to get a victim to give in to his demands. It’s something he’s done before. And unfortunately, any powerful abuser who wants to make that allegation against some woman or girl in the public eye has a complicit audience ready to help him in his dirty work from their favorite gossip, entertainment, and social media sites.
I feel sorry for Jennifer Lawrence too. Learning that this serial rapist used her name to victimize someone is bad enough. Dealing with that on top of the years of misogynistic abuse she’ll be subjected to from people who will insist that she’s lying (both conservatives up to their same old shit & liberals/’feminists’ who are supposed to be better than that) is a pretty toxic situation to add to life in the public eye. Hopefully she’ll be okay and has support. Sadly, misogynistic people and homophobic people have a tendency to express a very similar attitude about the suffering of their victims. They ignore evidence that links their behaviors and prejudices to depression, anxiety, substance abuse, PTSD, self-mutilation, estrangement within families, suicide, and violence. To many of them, if their target eventually suffers a breakdown or worse, it’s just proof that they were right about that person’s ‘sinful’ lifestyle.
That picture and headline are nearly vomit inducing. She would be been barely more than a child and he’s….gawd he’s the physical embodiment of his own grotesque soul.
I believe Jennifer. I know there was all that stuff about her being one of “Harvey’s Girls” but people forget- she didn’t need him. She was not dependant on his power the way some of the other poor women he victimised were. She was an Oscar nominee by the age of 20 AND already had Katniss Everdeen, one of the BIGGEST roles going for actresses of her age at the time, under her belt before teaming up with him for Silver Linings Playbook etc.
Exactly. My guess is she was too powerful for him to try to mess with. He used the names of big actresses as weapons against women in less powerful positions. Just one of the thousand disgusting ways he targeted victims.
i question ALL the stuff about “Harvey’s girls” – how many of them are just like J. Law, having their names dragged as part of this shitbag’s power trip?
This. Let’s not forget Gretchen Mol with those blind items (even on Lainey) and it were all false. That gossip was actually perpetuated by Harvey. Gretchen suffered tremendously from all this.
I don’t believe BI anymore.
@Anna – Same here. I am sick over how easily duped I was by the whole Mol thing when it’s so obvious who benefited by these rumors. Now when I read them my first thought is OK, who wants me to believe x, y, z about this person and WHY. Is it because she stood up for herself about her salary or working conditions? For someone else’s pay or conditions? Answer, almost always yes.
Genuine question, how do we know for sure that BI was false? Was it because Gretchen Mol denied it?
@Eva
Yes, it was false and she did also a moving statement.There was an aticle here on Celebitchy
@Eva:
https://www.celebitchy.com/553033/gretchen_mol_wrote_a_op-ed_about_that_harvey_weinstein-related_blind_item/
It’s not up to these ladies, including Gretchen Mol, to convince us of anything. We should be condemning the rapist and by default believing the women who were dragged into the rumour and inneudo.
I agree, Xdanix. I do think Jen Lawrence is overrated but I think she rode on a wave other sort of mediocre actors who fit the mould ride on (Abbie Cornish, Emma Stone, etc) and was perceived to be a brilliant actor by a huge percentage of critics and viewers. I believe her but more importantly Harvey Weinstein is a disgusting man who would lie about this. Why is it up to these women who might have had very fleeting business contact with Jabba to bend over backwards to disprove whatever sprouts out of his mouth?
It makes me physically sick that Jennifer keeps having to comment on this … I believe Jane Doe, I definitely believe Harvey said this … but how many times is a woman supposed to deny she’s been assaulted?
I’m angry at the Jane Doe for even mentioning Jennifer by name.
Why could she not have left it at ‘famous actress’?😕😒
Jane Doe stays in her annonimity, Weinsten is in the pen where he belongs, yet Jennifer Lawrence is the one who’s going to have to wear this smear in public. Again.😔
I hate that she now has to defend herself against pointers and whisperers over this rubbish.
And you best believe they’ll be in the industry too.
To be fair to jane doe, this isn’t the first time we hear jlaw rumours. And jlaw should know that many people heard from the beast that he’s been bragging. That is what i got from this, a womanly warning .
Bu that’s what makes it worse.
In the first round there was an avalanche of actresses describing their experience with the pig. JLaw along with other stars gave their own stories about being victimised while dealing with public pointing.
This account singles Lawrence out, and she’s going to have to deal with the vicious smear.
Again, but this time standing alone.
There was no need for Jane Doe to namecall her,😒 just leave it at ‘famous actress’.
Now everyone goes about their own business, but Lawrence has to fight for her name in the lights again, on account of a heinous accusation.😡
I’m not angry at Jane Doe for honestly and accurately reporting the details of her assault, I’m just angry that JL — who has already been asked and answered and *doesn’t* owe anyone an explanation — keeps having to put out support statements/defend herself. THIS IS ON HARVEY.
Remember that this article and the other articles are lifted from court docs – I’m assuming Jane Doe was just accurately detailing HW’s behaviour – it’s not namecalling and Jane Doe doesn’t need to be shamed for it, HW does.
I think it’s disgusting that she even has to keep saying this. Christ, it’s pathetic. If we’re believing women when they say they’ve been assaulted (as we should), I don’t understand why it’s so foreign of a concept to believe those who say they weren’t.
+1000. it’s a form of victimization unto itself.
Absolutely agree 100 percent. I’m sorry she has to defend herself on social media because people are saying she slept her way to an Oscar win rather than keeping on point and vilifying Harvey for using her name while he was raping a woman.
The man is a rapist, and had zero credibility before this came up why would any sane person believe him now?
Exactly. The same point that applied when Lena Dunham felt the need to share her belief that her friend’s rape victim was lying applies to the women (and men) who feel they just have to discredit Jennifer Lawrence and other women when they say they didn’t trade sex with some creep: Not every nasty thought you have needs to be, or should be, put out there for public consumption.
I agree. People don’t like her right now so they’re using this to smear her, both Trumpsters and people more left of the spectrum. And that’s why I just don’t think there’s going to be a major shift, culturally. The entire Harvey thing has more often than not just been used to attack women that aren’t particularly popular in culture, from Gwyneth to Blake to Alicia Vikander to Meryl Streep and so on, but especially JLaw. It’s heartbreaking and horrifying.
If you were raped or harassed by Weinstein, you should have said something sooner and have blood on your hands. If you claim you didn’t know, you’re a liar and complicit. If you say you weren’t harassed, it means that you had sex with him willingly. Every element of this has exposed the rot at the center of culture and the deep, deep misogyny that flows from the depths of the internet. It makes me want to throw up. Poor Jennifer. I can’t imagine how horrified and worried she must be because of this.
Every since her nudes were leaked, this story has been following Jen. It’s a hard one to disprove on her part, bc people want to believe if. It’s like she’s continually exploited again and again. She was underage when she met Harvey. There was an intw during SWATH that Kristen Stewart gave before that scandal where she talked about how often she was put in a position of working and oversharing with older men in private, Producers/Directors personal things while they “work”. That always made me uncomfortable and this JenLaw thing reminds me of that. I do hope he rots in jail.
She was 20 when she first met harvey.
This again? She already said this outright before so the rumours should stop.
I’m not a huge Jennifer Lawrence fan but I do not think she slept with Weinsten. Yes, he championed her and her career did take off. I believe it’s also possible he propositioned her or made sexual remarks indicating he wanted something to happen. I don’t think anything ever actually did happen because either she managed to keep him at arm’s length or maybe someone else in the business shielded her somehow and told him not to pursue it. Regardless, I think it is way more believable that he would brag to other people that he’d had sex with her in order to coerce them into doing something.
She was already an Oscar nominee when she worked with Harvey the first time. The people who championed her and discovered her are actually female directors like josie foster and debra fanik so even suggesting that her career took of because of Harvey or that he made her gives him too much credit and ereases the female directors and others who took a chance on her before. It also ereases her talent which was notable long before she worked with Harvey she won multiple prestigious awards as a teen. Lawrence should be compared to someone like Leo decaprio who was a teen acting prodigy and had both critical and commercial success by the time he was in his early twenties. Nobody ever tried to tie his success exclusively to a single producer.
Also she had already booked the hunger games before she worked with David O. Russell on the back of her Oscar nomination for winters bone so there’s no doubt she was going places with or without Harvey.
+10000
I believe Jane Doe, it sounds quite likely. He’s a piece of s-t and deserves more punishment. Also it can’t be overlooked how after he first grossly assaulted her , she kept making contact and visiting him in hopes of his patronage. Like, what did she expect coming alone to his room , after what he’s done in a woman’s toilet?? Surprise, he assaulted her again, worse than before.
Weinstein was one of the biggest name in the industry, his influence could make or break you as its been demonstrated by the faiths of many of his victims. Many, men and women, were grossed by his way but thought that you had to stay on his good side if you want to work. Remember that most people in the industry aren’t millionaires and need to work. Sometime, a secretary would come to his office alingside and then leave leaving the women alone with him.
Don’t blame the victim because she had/wanted to keep working.
If J-Law did sleep with him, she’s a victim and shouldn’t be forced to broadcast that publically. If she didn’t, then she shouldn’t be forced to deny and have that denial second guessed. This is just one more way women are put in no win situations by a**holes like Weinstein.
Agreed. Even if she was a victim in some way, she doesn’t owe us anything.
Agreed. It’s disgusting that this is happening to her. FTR I completely believe her.
Agreed. The issue isn’t whether she slept with Weinstein or not. JL has stated she didn’t and whether thats because she *actually* didn’t or because she, as a victim, doesn’t want to publicly process her trauma that’s her choice and right.
Exactly. Nobody can know what happened but it doesn’t matter. If she doesn’t want her name in this, then it’s her right and that should be respected.
I’m glad people on this site are seeing through this predator’s game; frankly the number of people (let’s face it…women) I’m seeing latch onto this story as true is horrifying. And it’s not because of any compelling evidence: “She was seen socially with him and he pushed her career!” is really just “I don’t think she’s talented and I don’t like her, so it’s true.”
Really?
And the easiest way to call people out on it is to bring up all the others. Once you find their “fave” suddenly the story changes:
Really? So Blake Lively slept with him.
– Haha, she would!
And Emma Watson slept with him then?
….No she would never!
And Zendaya of course?
….Well no she’s not like that.
Oh really? All seen socially with him and he pushed their careers to various degrees…..so?….
Oh but you think they’re talented and/or you like them, so no way it’s true. Interesting.
I don’t care if you like JLaw, I really don’t. I’m lukewarm on her at best. But there is one enemy here and it is not her. Believe women.
I think you hit the nail on the head. The sad reality is that people will decide to believe women based on whether they like them or not.
I have no idea what happened between Harvey or Jlaw. I have no idea what happened between Harvey and Blake Lively. I have no idea what happened between Harvey and Zendaya. I could go on. But what I do know is that Harvey used his power to manipulate women. He used his power to make sure they stayed associated with him. And if they didn’t do what he said, then he made sure their career suffered for it. He would have them black listed. He would make sure they didn’t get roles. He did everything and anything to make sure that any women he wanted, did exactly what he wanted. Harvey didn’t just sexually assault and rape women. It went further than that. And I think the sooner people realize that, the sooner we won’t have misogynistic comments about how so and so had to have slept with him otherwise where else would she be?! As if any of the women you mentioned didn’t have careers of their own before meeting him.
Whatever these women say: believe them. And if they choose to say nothing then understand that they maybe victims as well and just aren’t ready to come forward with what happened to them.
I completely agree with you, and appreciate your articulate analysis!
What kind of sorry creep has to act this way to get sex? So little self-respect that he has to reduce himself to beg and threaten for it. I don’t see a powerful man in this behavior, just a pathetic loser.
Preach. I’m so upset by how people are using this monster as a cudgel to bash women. I believe JLaw. Furthermore, he was a predator—even if he was with some actress—that means she is a victim. It’s not a reason to make some horrible back-handed comment like “oh, I’m sorry for her…but that explains why she got a push.” This is a man who preyed on women using a mix of blackmail, physical threats, and more.
And the media is playing into this misogynistic mess for clicks. So many headlines going “actress claims JLaw slept with Harvey”….when the claim shouldn’t even be getting media coverage. It’s exploiting Jennifer.
A lot of people were and are definitely being choose-y and playing favorites with this. When Sharon Osbourne said Harvey didn’t try anything with her back in the 80’s, people rightfully weren’t discrediting her. When another actress, Virginia Madsen, shared her #MeToo stories from others in the industry but also said Harvey Weinstein actually wasn’t like that with her at all, she was also believed. People seemed to be logical enough in those cases to accept the fact that Harvey being a serial rapist doesn’t automatically mean that literally every single woman who’s ever worked or been in contact with him was either sexually assaulted by him or traded sexual favors with him for work.
But when JLaw or any other successful young female celebrity they want taken down a peg says it, she has to be lying. That’s pathetic, because it shows that some of us- even among those of us who should really know better-put our negative feelings about or lack of empathy for individual women ahead of our hatred of misogyny. That gets in the way of progress.
Exactly. People cherry-picked women they didn’t like and called them Harvey’s Girls. Jennifer Lawrence worked with him once and her whole career became attributed to him, never mind that that she had an Oscar nom and two franchises before she met him.
Amy Adams worked with Weinstein multiple times, and he did big award campaigns for her, even when the film was DOA like Big Eyes. But not once was her name ever brought into the disgusting ‘Harvey’s Girls’ conversation, because people like her.
I think that’s something that hasn’t been discussed enough, the way people bought into and spread this misogynistic gossip to attack women they didn’t like.
So true. This is gross and problematic
This. It’s discomforting how so many people choose the woman they want to believe. And the Harvey’s girl” label has always been godawful to begin with.
It isn’t the first (Theron and Zellweger are other examples) and probably not the last time that Harvey “bragged” about sleeping with a succesful actress he worked with to convince other women they should sleep with him. That people take that as some kind of proof that these actresses slept with him to get roles rather than proof he’s a scumbag who will say anything to abuse his power is gross, disgusting and problematic.
I appreciate J Law’s statement: she exposes this monster’s predatory tactics and at the same time shows support to the victims.
I feel so sorry for all the victims in this – Jane Doe, all of the bag of hair’s victims, Jennifer Lawrence (oh what fun to have people think you slept your way to the top) – and I hope that Harvey, and the Harveys elsewhere, get what’s theirs.
Who cares if she did or didn’t, it has nothing to do with the internal Hollywood culture which strips newcomers of their dignity using shame and blackmail.
We have to stop being triggered by the sexual shame tactic. It’s an illusion.
If anyone “owns” anyone during or after sex even symbolically, I see it as the woman, due to the anatomy involved. I think sex triggers more vulnerability in the male and I see all the silly culture or bragging around sex as a very boyish thing where immature males are using women to get status. Like the mating season in the jungle.
Well said.
I believe Jane Doe and I believe JLaw
Pretty sure I read he used to say this about other actresses too some who have denied sleeping with him. I think he used whoever is the big name at any given time to lure hopeful actresses in.
Remember Paltrow, Theron and zellwegger was also dogged by these type of rumours as was that actress from boardwalk empire.
Yes, it was Theron and Zellweger among others and they rightly denied. This man is a predator and a monster.
You know, regardless if she did or not, I don’t actually care. He’s the predator in the situation. I’m tired of women paying the price for male aggression and power.
Vampire Academy is a teen movie. Jane Doe in the suit must be very young. Ugh, that man’s so freakin disgusting.
I was thinking the same thing. Based on the movie’s cast, she couldn’t have been out of the 18-22 range when the assault happened. Hell, she may have even been underage. Harvey made a pass at Kate Beckinsale when she was seventeen. Weinstein preyed on vulnerable girls and young women who, at the time, he didn’t think had the clout to stand up to him.
Gwyneth talked about this in the NY Times – how she had conversations with a lot of women who willingly slept with him thinking that she did to get ahead.
I never believed Jennifer touched him. Like everyone is saying, she would’ve been fine without Silver Linings Playbook. The Academy wanted to give her an Oscar for something and they were going to find a way.
+1000
Yeah the lack of this bit of info in most of the stories relating to this lawsuit really bothers me. It paints the picture of him referencing JLaw as an anomaly, when in fact Harvey had form with this sort of thing — referencing the biggest actress in Hollywood to lure women into sleeping with him. First it was Gwyneth, then Renee, then Charlize, and now JLaw.
I think it was in the New York Times that Gwyneth said she had made contact with many of the women who claimed Harvey told them that they were lovers — it must be so awful to know that numerous women were lured into traps by a man invoking their names.
Yes,and it was sickening to read that interview with Paltrow. I feel incredibly sorry for these women,the victims and all the other women who were indirectly dragged in this and victimized in another way. Great statement from Jennifer. I’ve always believed her and I’ve always believed he didn’t target every woman he came in contact with.
This is what I tend to think. Jennifer was the ‘young ingenue’ at the time, like Scarlett and Paltrow and so many before. Hollywood loves a young, pretty blonde that they can later toss aside to make a sexist point about the value of youth in women. Harvey was surely just using her name to score points. What a pig.
I’m a man and I’m ashamed of Weinstein. Poor women. The lie of having sex with successful women is a typical trait of predators: they did this in order to manipulate their victims. I thank my mother every day for raising me and teaching me respect for others and especially for women.
Jennifer’s statement is powerful. She says what Jane Doe says isnt true, but she doesn’t call Jane Doe a liar. She turns it back around to the abuser as an example of how he manipulated people.
She effectively tells her truth and puts the blame on the person who deserves it without discounting Jane Doe’s truth.
I agree. It was a great statement
i dont believe Jlaw, but I don’t disbelieve her either. I just dont know the truth and never will.
I think we should respect what she says. Whatever the actual truth may be, its obvious she does not want to be tied to him. So can we all just let her be?
I believe Jane Doe and I also believe Jennifer-always have, always will.
JLaw did a great statement. I’m so disgusted by Weinstein
I totally believe that Harvey did go around saying this. But I feel so bad for Jennifer. She has said it didnt happen, can we just believe her and let it go already.
People forget JLaw’s first major movie (which landed her an Oscar nomination) was directed by a woman, and landed her her first major film franchise which turned her into an A-lister. She didn’t meet Weinstein until after she was an Oscar nominee with a major franchise under her belt. And by all accounts Weinstein didn’t go after stars, he went after aspiring actresses or women near the start of their careers.
I’ve seen endless commenters on various sites saying, “Oh, yeah, she did it; that’s why she’s done so well.” And, “She totally took those hacked pics for Jabba the Hutt!” (Actually she has a huge fan base among critics and viewers who believe she’s an excellent actor.) And my comments saying I believe her never get through moderation on those sites (including the Daily Fail). He boasted also about supposedly sleeping with Goop. I believe these women and feel bad for Jen Lawrence (I’m not a fan and I think she’s overrated in acting but that’s beside the point) who’s not only still fairly young but had to deal with the hacked photos in addition to people basically judging her for being a “slut” and more likely to assume she did casting couch because of those photos. Stay strong, Jen and others.
Vampire Academy is his?! Ugh.
I love how so many commenters here (who are supposedly all about supporting women) start off their comments by saying, “I don’t like her/think she’s overrated, but…”. Why can’t we just say, we believe JLaw and Weinstein is trash?!? Having to Include the fact that you dislike a woman in your message of support for her dilutes that same message.
Any time a girl or a woman shows herself to actively have a problem with misogyny/misogynoir, biphobia, victim-blaming, etc. that someone is directing at a female public figure on the internet, she runs the risk of having her whole argument dismissed with “You’re a blind stan!1!” So that’s one of the reasons why you’ll sometimes see us throw in “I’m not a fan, but/ I find her annoying, but/ I don’t like or dislike her, but” disclaimer. Performative dislike or at least disinterest in another woman is kind of an obligation for us sometimes, in order for anything we say to be taken seriously. If we’re going to interrupt or criticize someone’s misogyny (something we’re not really supposed to be doing too much of anyway as desensitized Good Girls), we’d best make sure we show we don’t like whichever woman happens to be the target first.
Can’t speak for the others but my “think she’s overrated” qualification in one of my posts was made as in, “Yes, she’s overrated but I don’t agree her success was due to casting couch but rather her fitting into the hot blonde mould (HW seems to need to alway shave a dozen of these attractive blonde sirens/ingenue on the up and coming).” Her acting skills or lack thereof are partly why some people believe the casting couch thing. And otaku fairy also has a good point.