Kate Beckinsale accuses Harvey Weinstein of trying to lure her into his Savoy hotel room as a 17-year-old schoolgirl
KATE Beckinsale has claimed Harvey Weinstein tried to lure her to his Savoy hotel room as a 17-year-old schoolgirl, in a damning Instagram post.
The Underworld star said years later the disgraced movie mogul "couldn't remember" whether he had sexually assaulted her or not.
She released a statement on Instagram today, alongside a picture of the star as a teen, admitting her career was "undoubtedly harmed" after she rejected his advances.
The 44-year-old actress, who is originally from London, is the latest celebrity to come forward with allegations against the Hollywood producer.
Her claims come as New York detectives began searching for evidence against Weinstein.
Police in Merseyside said they are investigating an allegation of sexual assault by Harvey Weinstein in relation to an incident in London in the 1980s.
Beckinsale, daughter of actors Richard Beckinsale and Judy Loe, said she was called to meet Weinstein at the Savoy Hotel when she was 17.
Writing on the social media post, she said: "I assumed it would be in a conference room which was very common.
"When I arrived, reception told me to go to his room. He opened the door in his bathrobe.
"I was incredibly naive and young and it did not cross my mind that this older, unattractive man would expect me to have any sexual interest in him.
"After declining alcohol and announcing that I had school in the morning I left, uneasy but unscathed.
"A few years later he asked me if he had tried anything with me in that first meeting.
"I realized he couldn't remember if he had assaulted me or not."
She added: "I had what I thought were boundaries - I said no to him professionally many times over the years - some of which ended up with him screaming at me calling me a c**t and making threats, some of which made him laughingly tell people oh 'Kate loves to say no to me'.
"It speaks to the status quo in this business that I was aware that standing up for myself and saying no to things, while it did allow me to feel uncompromised in myself, undoubtedly harmed my career and was never something I felt supported by anyone other than my family.
"I would like to applaud the women who have come forward, and to pledge that we can from this create a new paradigm where producers, managers, executives and assistants and everyone who has in the past shrugged and said 'well, that's just Harvey /Mr X/insert name here' will realize that we in numbers can affect real change.
"For every moment like this there have been thousands where a vulnerable person has confided outrageous unprofessional behavior and found they have no recourse, due to an atmosphere of fear that it seems almost everyone has been living in."
She continues: "I had a male friend who, based on my experience, warned a young actress who said she was going to dinner with Harvey to be careful.
What we know so far:
- The Sun revealed Harvey Weinstein propositioned Myleene Klass with a sex contract, during a Cannes film festival lunchin 2010.
- The contract included a confidentiality agreement stressing she could not discuss any sexual relationship with Weinstein.
- Kate Beckinsale was also targeted when she was a 17-year-old schoolgirl by Weinstein now 65. The actress said her refusal to give in to the sleazy film-maker’s demands “undoubtedly harmed my career”.
- The FBI and police in New York and London have all opened investigations into Weinstein, with one cop calling him a “super-predator”;
- Emma Thompson compared him to serial sex offender Jimmy Savile, saying: “It’s the same story. He’s dangerous and what he’s done and what he’s doing is criminal.”
- Weinstein whined to photographers he was “a good guy” as he flew off to rehab for sex addiction;
- His long-time PR man in the UK quit over the tidal wave of sex allegations.
- Weinstein has been accused of sexual harassment or abuse of more than 30 women. Three have accused him of rape.
- His wife Brit fashion designer Georgia Chapman has left him.
- The allegations have all been denied by Weinstein.
"He received a phone call the next day saying he would never work in another Miramax film; the girl was already sleeping with Harvey and had told him that my friend had warned her off.
"Let's stop allowing our young women to be sexual cannon fodder, and let's remember that Harvey is an emblem of a system that is sick, and that we have work to do."
Police today ordered investigators in the Special Victims Division “to endeavour to identify and locate and interview any potential victims” of the disgraced movie producer, a high-ranking police source told the .
"He’s a super predator. His conduct shows he’s been at this a long time, and he’s a professional at it,” a police official said.
"He’s been at this so long, there’s no way there are not other victims out there.
"Imagine how many promises he’s made to these young women who were trying to make it into the industry."
The directive followed a blockbuster report by the New Yorker magazine, which on Tuesday published accusations from three women who accused Weinstein of raping or otherwise sexually abusing them.
One of the women, Lucia Evans, said she was a Middlebury College student and aspiring actress when Weinstein approached her at the since-shuttered Cipriani Upstairs club in Soho in 2004.
Evans, now 34, said she later accepted an assistant’s invitation to meet Weinstein at his office, where he raised the possibility of casting her in a movie.
"At that point, after that, is when he assaulted me," Evans said.
"I said, over and over, ‘I don’t want to do this, stop, don’t'….He’s a big guy. He overpowered me."
DISGRACED MOVIE PRODUCER IS 'SUICIDAL'
A video shows the moment Harvey Weinstein staggered into the road and tried to flag down a passing car after his worried daughter told cops he is "suicidal".
The movie producer was heard screaming "you're making it worse" after he stormed out of her LA home on Wednesday, TMZ reports.
The 65-year-old rushed to comfort 22-year-old Remy because she was "very upset and concerned for her father", Page Six reports.
The pair reportedly had a row and he stormed out of the house - causing her to call cops telling them her dad was "suicidal and depressed" as sexual abuse claims from Hollywood A-listers mounted against him.
She later had a change of heart and told officers he was not at risk of self harm after Weinstein came back to her home.
A friend told Page Six: ";Remy overreacted at the situation, out of love and concern for her father, and called the police, telling them he was depressed and suicidal."
Although New York at the time had a five-year statute of limitations for prosecuting felony sex crimes, the incident is covered by a 2006 law that removed that restriction, officials said.
Evans didn’t return messages, and police sources said she may be outside the country.
Her dad declined to comment at his home outside Albany.
In addition to Evans, actress Asia Argento also told the New Yorker that Weinstein forcibly performed oral sex on her in 1997 inside the Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc on the French Riviera, and an unidentified woman alleged that Weinstein raped her, but the magazine didn’t say when or where.
In 2015, Weinstein avoided prosecution in the groping of a Filipina-Italian model inside his Tribeca office, even though cops secretly recorded him apologizing to Ambra Batillana Gutierrez, then 22, while trying to coax her into a room inside the Tribeca Grand Hotel.
“Why yesterday you touched my breast?” Gutierrez asked him, according to an audio clip posted online by the New Yorker.
“Oh, please. I’m sorry, Just come on in. I’m used to that,” Weinstein replied.
Embattled Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. on Wednesday defended his decision not to charge Weinstein, saying: “Our sex-crimes prosecutors made the determination that this was not going to be a provable case and the decision was made not to go forward.”
At one point, Vance very familiarly referred to Weinstein by his first name only.
“We’re focused on the facts, not whether people liked Harvey,” the DA told reporters.
NYPD sources have expressed outrage over Vance’s decision, and one cop said that if presented with new cases, “The feeling is, this time they wouldn’t be so quick not to charge.”
Weinstein, meanwhile, hired high-powered Los Angeles criminal-defense lawyer Blair Berk to represent him, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Her list of troubled celebrity clients includes Mel Gibson, Lindsay Lohan, Kiefer Sutherland and Kanye West.
Also, the University of Buffalo said it was moving to revoke an honorary “doctorate of humane letters” it awarded Weinstein in 2000, 30 years after he dropped out.
In announcing its desire to strip Weinstein of the honor, the school noted that he “personally never made a gift to the university,” but that the Walt Disney Co. donated $22,750 on behalf of the Miramax film company after buying it from Weinstein and his younger brother, Bob.
Weinstein has denied any “non-consensual sex.”
A spokeswoman didn’t return a request for comment for this story.
MOST READ IN NEWS
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at [email protected] or call 0207 782 4368 . We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours.