Lupita Nyong'o joins the list of Hollywood women who have been sexually harassed by the American film producer and former film studio executive, Harvey Weinstein. The 65-year-old man has been accused by more than 40 women of sexual harassment and assault.
Nyong'o, who was born in Mexico to Kenyan parents , and attended college in the United States, shared her story in the New York Times, calling Weinstein a “predator.” The Academy Award winning actress said after the victims are speaking the truth she hasn’t been able to avoid the memories.
"I met Harvey Weinstein in 2011 at an awards ceremony in Berlin, while I was still a student at the Yale School of Drama," recounts Nyong'o. An intermediary introduced him to me as “the most powerful producer in Hollywood.”
The 34-year-old actress wrote that she was “eager to meet people in the industry but cautious about strangers, and the intentions of men in general.” Trying to keep things professional, the actress exchanged contacts with him hoping she would be considered for one of his projects.
“Not long after we met in Berlin, Harvey wrote to me inviting me to attend a screening of a film,” wrote Lupita. “He would send a car to pick me up. I accepted the invitation.” According to Nyong’o she met Harvey in Westport, and he informed her that both would be having lunch at a restaurant before getting to his home.
“As soon as we sat down he ordered a vodka and diet soda for himself. I asked for a juice. Harvey was unimpressed with my choice and told the waiter to bring me a vodka and diet soda instead,” reveals Nyong’o. “We went back and forth until finally he turned to the waiter and said, ‘Get her what I tell you to get her. I’m the one paying the bill.’ I smiled and remained silent. ”
Lupita wrote that the producer insisted in her drinking the alcohol, but she refused to do it. At the time, Nyong’o didn’t catch the signals finding Harvey to be, according to her, "pushy" and "idiosyncratic."
After lunch, both went to Harvey’s home and he took her to a brief tour of the house before he gathered everyone in the screening room to watch the film. “I settled in for the film, but about 15 minutes in, Harvey came for me, saying he wanted to show me something. I protested that I wanted to finish the film first, but he insisted,” wrote Nyong’o. “I complied and left the room with him. I explained that I really wanted to see the film. He said we’d go back shortly.”
“Harvey led me into a bedroom — his bedroom — and announced that he wanted to give me a massage. I thought he was joking at first. He was not,” revealed the actress. Lupita confessed that she “panicked a little,” and offered to “give him one instead .” The actress wrote that she offered the massage because that way she would have control.
“He agreed to this and lay on the bed. I began to massage his back to buy myself time to figure out how to extricate myself from this undesirable situation,” noted Lupita, without knowing that something worse was about to happen. “He said he wanted to take off his pants. I told him not to do that and informed him that it would make me extremely uncomfortable. He got up anyway to do so and I headed for the door, saying that I was not at all comfortable with that.”
After Lupita left the house she remembers that she was confused with the massage situation. “I reasoned that it had been inappropriate and uncalled-for, but not overtly sexual,” she wrote. The actress decided to “shelve it as an awkward moment.”
At a separate time, Weinstein invited Lupita to the Broadway show, “Finding Neverland,” and she went with two of her trusted male friends. “We attended the reading, and afterward Harvey invited us all to a restaurant for dinner with his comrades and collaborators. He sat me next to him, and another actress sat across from me. He had my friends sit at a different table,” wrote Lupita. Nothing crazy happened that night and according to the actress she left feeling that perhaps he had learned her boundaries.
“A couple of months later, I received an email from Harvey, inviting me again to New York for a screening of “W.E.” After the screening, we would have drinks in TriBeCa,” wrote Nyong’o. A female assistant informed Lupita that this time she was the only guest.
“Harvey arrived and the assistant immediately disappeared. We ordered drinks and starters,” wrote the actress. “Before the starters arrived, he announced: “Let’s cut to the chase. I have a private room upstairs where we can have the rest of our meal.” I was stunned. I told him I preferred to eat in the restaurant. He told me not to be so naïve. If I wanted to be an actress, then I had to be willing to do this sort of thing. He said he had dated Famous Actress X and Y and look where that had gotten them. ”
According to Lupita she passed the offer and Harvey said “So we are done here, you can leave.” The actress confessed she was afraid and worried for her future in the industry and asked the producer if the situation could end in good terms. “I just want to know that we are good,” she asked. “I don’t know about your career, but you’ll be fine,” he said.
Lupita wrote she didn’t see Harvey again until the premiere of “12 Years a Slave,” in which she played as an enslaved African-American woman who lived in the mid 19th century. According to her, he told her “he was ashamed of his actions and he promised to respect me moving forward.”
The actress said she wishes she had known "that there were women in the business I could have talked to." "There is clearly power in numbers. I thank the women who have spoken up and given me the strength to revisit this unfortunate moment in my past," she wrote.
She added: “Now that we are speaking, let us never shut up about this kind of thing. I speak up to make certain that this is not the kind of misconduct that deserves a second chance. I speak up to contribute to the end of the conspiracy of silence. ”
© 2024 Latin Times. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
