Actress Salma Hayek said Wednesday that disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein threatened to shut down production of her dream movie, "Frida," unless "I agreed to do a sex scene with another woman. There was no room for negotiation. I had to say yes. Hayek, 51, said she was motivated to tell her harrowing story about the man she refers to as "my monster" by the flood of women who have come forward with accusations of sexual misconduct against Weinstein.
'I Wasn't Even a Person.' Salma Hayek Says 'Monster' Harvey Weinstein Sexually Harassed Her
Salma Hayek Says 'Monster' Harvey Weinstein Sexually Harassed Her | Time
Hayek came forward with her allegations in an essay for the New York Times published on Dec. But after she made a deal with Weinstein, she writes, he began sexually harassing her. She said that Weinstein asked her to take a shower with him, engage in oral sex and get naked with another woman. When she declined, she said Weinstein would rage at her, telling her on one occasion that he would kill her. Halfway through the shooting process for Frida , Hayek said Weinstein threatened to shut down the film unless she added a fully nude sex scene between Hayek and her co-star Ashley Judd, who later became one of the first women to come forward with allegations against Weinstein.
On Wednesday, actress and filmmaker Salma Hayek published a painful op-ed detailing years of emotional abuse, sexual harassment, and professional coercion at the hands of Harvey Weinstein while she attempted to make Frida , her Oscar-winning biopic of the artist Frida Kahlo. Weinstein does not recall pressuring Salma to do a gratuitous sex scene with a female costar and he was not there for the filming. Never mind, of course, that believing accusers, who have little to gain from making their stories public, is a critical first step towards undoing a culture that permits systemic abuse by men in power, not just in Hollywood, and privileges their stories over those of their victims.
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