Gwyneth Paltrow on her complicated feelings about Harvey Weinstein: "I'm not sure how I feel"
Gwyneth Paltrow was one of the key voices that ushered in the reckoning of disgraced Hollywood executive Harvey Weinstein, citing her own experiences with sexual harassment allegedly at his hands and encouraging other actresses to come forward with their own stories. Still, sizable chunks of her career and life are inextricably linked to him, which ultimately has an impact on her feelings about the Shakespeare In Love producer. She explained as much during a chat with Andrew Ross Sorkin at New York Times’ DealBook conference on Wednesday, per CNN.
“You know, I don’t like to be binary about people or about things,” Gwyneth said when asked about her feelings regarding Weinstein. “I think we’re all equal parts or varying percentages light and dark.” She explained further:
“He was a very, very important figure in my life. He was my main boss. He gave me incredible opportunity and yet during that time we had a very, very fraught complicated relationship. Highs and lows. And the postscript to that chapter of my life is where it gets extremely complicated for me, because information came to light about who he was and how he was behaving that I didn’t know during my already very difficult time with him. So I’m not sure. I’m not sure how I feel.”
Sorkin went on to ask if there was anything that men like Weinstein could do to “repent” for their alleged abuse, for which Weinstein goes on trial beginning January 6, 2020. Paltrow hypothesized that a full surrender of power would be key: “There’s a spectrum, but it does seem to me, for the more egregious offenders, that really loss of power is what keeps them from further offending. So if they don’t have the power, then they lose that dynamic and then the game’s over.”