In a New Yorker article published Friday night, journalist Ronan Farrow revealed more accusations of sexual harassment and assault against former studio head Harvey Weinstein, now from actresses Annabella Sciorra and Daryl Hannah. According to The Sopranos actress, Weinstein allegedly raped her, then forcibly performed oral sex on her, in her New York apartment one night in the ’90s. “Like most of these women, I was so ashamed of what happened,” Sciorra says. “And I fought. I fought. But still I was like, Why did I open that door? Who opens the door at that time of night? I was definitely embarrassed by it. I felt disgusting. I felt like I had fucked up.”
In the same article, actress Daryl Hannah opens up about her own experiences with Weinstein, which began when he pounded on her hotel door one night until she fled out a rear entrance. While in Rome promoting Kill Bill: Vol. 2., Hannah alleges Weinstein let himself into her hotel room without her knowledge or permission. “He had a key,” Hannah explains. “He came through the living room and into the bedroom. He just burst in like a raging bull. And I know with every fibre of my being that if my male makeup artist was not in that room, things would not have gone well. It was scary.”
When Hannah later refused Weinstein’s demand to feel her breasts, the former studio head allegedly retaliated against her, canceling her flights and hotel room for the film’s Cannes premiere. The Splash star says she told “everybody” including the film’s director, Quentin Tarantino, about what had happened. “And it didn’t matter,” she recalls. “I think that it doesn’t matter if you’re a well-known actress, it doesn’t matter if you’re twenty or if you’re forty, it doesn’t matter if you report or if you don’t, because we are not believed. We are more than not believed — we are berated and criticized and blamed.”
In the article, Farrow claims that, according to many women he spoke to about Weinstein’s seemingly unending sexual-assault scandal, the producer and his people tried earlier this year to suss out which which women had spoken to the media about their harassment. Initially frightened by the potential consequences of coming forward, Sciorra said she was eventually compelled to share her own story after seeing how some in the media dismissed Asia Argento’s account of Weinstein forcing oral sex on her, as well as those who downplayed the accusations of sexual harassment and assault from dozens of other women against him. “The way they’re treating Asia, and the way they’re treating a lot of women, is so infuriating,” Sciorra says. “Okay, you want rape? Here’s fucking rape.” In response to the new accusations, Weinstein’s spokesperson Sallie Hofmeister issued a statement saying, “Mr. Weinstein unequivocally denies any allegations of non-consensual sex.”
