Recently, actress Lauren Holly appeared on Canadian talk show The Social and shared her own chilling story about an interaction she had with Harvey Weinstein, the now-former movie studio head who has been hit with multiple allegations of sexual harassment and sexual assault. During the interview, Holly said she was “floored” when she first saw the New York Times piece that set all of this off. “It was my story,” she said. “I have never told anyone publicly.”
Holly says it happened in the late ‘90s, when she was “a seasoned Hollywood person” who knew that Weinstein was “the most powerful person” in the industry. She didn’t know any of the alleged stories about him, though, so she didn’t think it was unusual when he asked to meet with her at a hotel. The meeting started normal, but she alleges that he eventually excused himself and then returned wearing nothing but a bathrobe, at which point he asked her to accompany him as he used the bathroom and began to take a shower, all while continuing to talk to her as if they were “having a normal encounter.”
She says it was so odd that she began to question herself, wondering if she was “just a prude,” but that changed when he got out of the shower and allegedly approached her while still naked. Holly says she wanted to run at that point, but he just told her she looked stressed and suggested that she give him a massage. She refused, and she claims “he began to get angry” after that, telling her that it would be “a bad decision” if she left. Ignoring his threat, she “pushed him and ran.”
Holly says she was told to “stay quiet” about all of this, and she says she has “suspicions” about why she didn’t make very many movies after that.