Since The New York Times published its piece on the decades of sexual harassment allegations that have been directed at now-former Weinstein Company head Harvey Weinstein, more and more people have come forward with stories of their own—some about Weinstein, some not. Today, Cara Delevingne released a statement about an interaction she had with Weinstein when she was just starting her acting career, and as anyone who has been following this story can probably guess, it’s all pretty horrifying. You can see the full statement below:
Essentially, Weinstein contacted Delevingne and needled her about whether or not she was a lesbian, and since she refused to answer his questions, he explained that she’d never make it in Hollywood if she did come out as gay. A year or so later, he allegedly showed up at a meeting she had and bragged about the actresses whose careers he had made after they slept with him, and he got an assistant to convince Delevingne to meet him in a hotel room. There, she says Weinstein tried to force her to kiss another woman, which she refused to do, and when she tried to leave, Weinstein allegedly tried to kiss her himself. She got away after that, and did get the role that the meeting was about, but she says she’s “felt awful” about taking it since then.
Because of that, she closes her statement by saying that it’s not someone’s fault if they get “harassed or abused or raped,” and that not talking about it “will always cause more damage than speaking the truth.”