In a recent interview with Gwyneth Paltrow, she opened up about how having a teenage daughter influenced her to come forward, alleging that Harvey Weinstein sexually harassed her when she was 22-years-old.
Back in 2017, Hollywood was rocked as sexual harassment and sexual assault allegations made by several women aimed at film mogul, Harvey Weinstein, surfaced.
In October 2017, The New York Times published a story outlining details of over 20 years of allegations made against Weinstein.
Rose McGowan and Ashley Judd are among some of the first actresses to come forward.
Followed by a shockingly long list of other women in the film industry with similar stories .
For the most part, the accusations were all quite similar.
He would allegedly force women to massage him and watch him naked.
He would also promise to help advance their film careers in exchange for sexual favors .
Later that month, 13 more women came forward with similar allegations. Three of those women accused Weinstein of rape, which he quickly denied.
Actresses Asia Argento and Lucia Stoller claimed that Harvey forced himself on them sexually .
Mira Sorvino, who has been apart of more than one of Weinstein’s films later revealed that he often tried to pressure her into a physical relationship.
Angelina Jolie also came forward , referring to Weinstein as a “bad experience” from her youth.
Next, Gwyneth Paltrow came forward, alleging that Weinstein made sexual advances at her when she was 22 years old.
She told The New York Times that he sexually harassed her in a hotel room after hiring her for a leading role in the movie, Emma .
He allegedly placed his hands on her and asked her for a massage.
“I was a kid, I was signed up, I was petrified,” she told the NYT .
Gwyneth said at the time she only told her then-boyfriend, Brad Pitt.
“I told him right away and I was very shaken by the whole thing,” she said. “We were at the opening of Hamlet on Broadway. Harvey was there, and Brad Pitt…”
“…it was the equivalent of throwing him against the wall, energetically.”
“He said, ‘If you ever make her feel uncomfortable again, I’ll kill you,’ or something like that,” Gwyneth recalled of Brad and Weinstein’s interaction.
Brad Pitt recently explained why he reacted the way that he did.
Speaking to CNN , Brad said, “At that moment, I was just a boy from the Ozarks on the playground and that’s how we confronted things.”
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Brad explained that he felt protective due to the contract Gwyneth had signed.
“I just wanted to make sure nothing was going to happen further because she was going to do two films [with him],” Brad said.
“I think that’s an important story to tell.”
“I think the interesting thing is that we, Hollywood specifically, but the workplace, men and women’s dynamics is being re-calibrated, re-calibrated in a very good way that is long overdue,” Brad said.
Gwyneth reveals that she’s still grateful for Brad stepping in.
“It was so fantastic,” she said. “He leveraged his fame and power to protect me at a time when I didn’t have fame or power yet.”
After Brad confronted Weinstein, Gwyneth got an angry phone call.
“I thought [Harvey] was going to fire me,” Gwyneth said. “He screamed at me for a long time. It was brutal.”
Now, two years later in an interview on the “Today Show”, Gwyneth explains what exactly influenced her to speak up in the first place.
“I was really scared,” she said .
“I think society had shown us only basically examples where women coming forward ended up not being advantageous for the woman,” she continued.
“But I really felt like it was time.”
She then revealed that having a daughter really put things into perspective for her — prompting her to come forward with the allegations.
“I think also having a teenage daughter that’s the love of my life, and worrying about her going into the workplace,” she said .
“And feeling like if there was ever a chance that there could be a cultural shift on this stuff, I wanted to participate in.”
“I never could have imagined that collectively a shift this seismic would happen, but I feel proud that I have a small part in it.”
The reporters who originally broke the news of the Harvey Weinstein allegations, Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor, were also recently interviewed on the “Today Show”.
They discussed their book, She Said , which recounts the entire investigation and the role it played in the #MeToo movement.
They revealed that Gwyneth was one of the first people to come forward with her story.
“I think that many people will be surprised to discover that when so many other actresses were reluctant to get on the phone and scared to tell the truth about what they had experienced at his hands…”
Gwnyeth was not the same.
Megan said that people would be surprised “that Gwyneth was actually one of the first people to get on the phone.”
“And that she was determined to help this investigation,” she continued.
“Even when Harvey Weinstein showed up to a party at her house early and she was sort of forced to hide in the bathroom “.
“I think Harvey Weinstein was extremely aware and extremely scared of what the implications would be if his biggest star actually ended up going on the record,” she added.
Let us know what you think of Gwyneth’s decision to come forward because of her teenage daughter.
