Kate Beckinsale was one of the many Hollywood women who had a harrowing story to tell about Harvey Weinstein after he was put behind bars.
The disgraced film producer is currently serving 23 years in prison for rape and sexual assault charges in New York, and was just recently sentenced to an additional 16 years in a Los Angeles trial.
But, just before he began his sentence, Beckinsale alleged she had a horrific experience with Weinstein back in his heyday.
Advert
Kate starred in the 2001 rom-com Serendipity alongside John Cusack, which just so happened to have been distributed by Weinstein's Miramax.
The film infamously had its premiere in New York in October 2001 - just one month after the devastating 9/11 attacks.
The actor has alleged that the film's cast agreed a red carpet premiere would be inappropriate so soon after the heartbreaking event, but that they were 'forced to do it'.
Even though Kate did eventually agree to show up for the premiere, she said she found herself being screamed at by Weinstein anyway, when he took issue with the outfit she had chosen to wear on the red carpet.
"I wore a suit. I just thought, 'we need to be a bit sober here. This is already so f***ed that we're doing this'," she told The Howard Stern Show.
"And I got in big trouble for wearing a suit. So I got absolutely reamed for that."
Recalling how it all went down, she explained: "[Harvey] called up and said - we had kids the same age - he said, 'Will you bring your baby over and have a playdate with my child?'
"He had never asked me to do anything like that ever. And I, again, didn't feel like I could say no."
When Kate showed up with her kid and a nanny - another one of Harvey's requests, she says - the nannies and children were quickly ushered away so that Weinstein could have a chat with her privately.
"And then he just went insane: 'You f***ing stupid c***'. Like every horrible thing you could possibly imagine at top volume. 'I f***ing paid you... If I say go on a red carpet, you shake your f***ing t**s and a**.'
"I was immediately in tears and shaking because I had been brought in under the pretence of a playdate with toddlers and suddenly I'm being screamed at that I'm a c***. It was a lot."
Kate had also spoken about the harrowing run-in in a lengthy Instagram post shortly after Weinstein's sentencing in 2020.
“I tried to say, ‘Harvey, the city is on fire, people are still looking for their relatives, none of us even felt the premiere was appropriate, much less coming out dressed like it’s a bachelor party,'” she told her followers at the time.
"He said, ‘I don’t care - it’s my f***ing premiere, and if I want p*** on the red carpet, that’s what I get.'”
She added: "That was one of many experiences I had that there was no recourse for, and falls under no felony.
"But I was punished for it. And for other instances where I said no to him for years, insidiously and seeming irreversibly."
Topics: Harvey Weinstein, Celebrity
Ali Condon