CULTURE OF FEAR
Harvey Weinstein’s ex-chauffeur claims he didn’t stop mogul’s sick abuse because he’d lose his job
HARVEY Weinstein's ex-chauffeur today claimed he saw the movie mogul sexually abuse women in the back of his car - but did not step in because he was scared he'd lose his job.
Mikael Chemloul, 56, who was Weinstein’s regular driver in the south of France from 2008 to 2013, was asked by Good Morning Britain host Richard Madeley why he didn't intervene.
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He said: "I couldn't. If I did I couldn't work, it would be finished for me. He was a big client."
Mickael also said Weinstein was known as “le porc” (“the pig”) by locals in the South of France.
He added: "When I was waiting for him in the car I was asked: 'Are you waiting for the Big Pig?' and I would say, yes, I'm waiting for Harvey."
Earlier this month Mickael, who is writing a book about Weinstein called The Last Monster of Hollywood revealed Weinstein had sex with a woman in the back of his car as she begged him: “Don’t hurt me”.
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Weinstein then took her into a hotel and romped with her again while his pregnant wife slept in a nearby room.
Mickael said the sleazy film-maker also kept an emergency stash of condoms and Viagra in his Mercedes’ glove compartment.
Speaking at his Cannes apartment, he told The Sun on Sunday how Weinstein, 65:
- REGULARLY picked up girls when he was at film and TV festivals in France;
- WAS minutes from death after his gastric band failed at model Naomi Campbell’s birthday party;
- TREMBLED with excitement whenever he saw a pretty woman;
- ATTACKED Mickael while he was driving after two East European escorts failed to show up.
Mickael said: “Weinstein was a terrible man to work for. Everyone knew him as le porc because of his size and because he sweated so much. When he came to Cannes we all knew what to expect.”
He recalled how the mogul once picked up a woman at a billionaire’s yacht party — while pregnant wife Georgina Chapman stayed behind at the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc.
He said: “She was a good-looking girl, around 25 to 30, who had clearly had a few drinks. This was a fairly familiar sight for me, but even I was shocked when I heard her say, ‘Don’t hurt me’ in the car.
“I turned and saw her with her head in his lap and him pulling her hair. I knew Georgina decided to stay in her room and miss the party because she was feeling tired.
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“I said to Harvey, ‘Are you sure?’ He replied, ‘Just drive to the f****** Cap’.
“When we arrived, Harvey got out with the girl and headed for another room. He was with her until 5am and left her there to go back to Georgina.
“The worst of it was that Georgina phoned me at 4.30 while I was trying to catch some sleep in the car and asked me where Harvey was.
“I was in an awkward spot. All I could think of was he had gone for a meeting with some business friends. I felt forced to lie.
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“I remember a night porter saying to me, ‘What is he doing coming in with a hooker when his wife is asleep upstairs?’
“When Harvey finally turned up he looked in a right state, sweating like a pig with his shirt out. ‘What did you tell my wife?’ he blurted. To be honest, he sickened me.”
A string of other women have also accused him of sexual misconduct, including rape, assault and harassment.
Weinstein has denied any allegations of non-consensual sex.
Mickael said Weinstein fuelled himself on sugar before heading to orgies. He recalled: “He would have Viagra, chewing gum, Coca-Cola and loads of M&M’s sweet packs in the car. It gave him the energy to carry on the way he did.
Lawyer Gloria Allred has lost count of the number of alleged Harvey Weinstein victims that have come forward
“It was so stressful working for him – I was taking him to parties and I know he was going to orgies as well but I had to keep quiet.
“Harvey gets so excited in the presence of women that he trembles, he shakes, it’s as if he is having an orgasm.
“One day he was leaving a beach lunch on the Croisette in Cannes and he saw two attractive girls on the pavement go in. They looked like models or actresses.
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“Harvey turned to me and said, ‘Tell them who I am and that I am a film producer’. It is hard to believe but he was shaking. As he followed them in, he was gently groping them. A day without sex for Harvey is like a summer day without sun. The glove box always contained contraceptives for when he had a pressing need, along with Viagra and all the medicinal pills and tablets he had for his health.
“I have seen him attend three dinners in one night and still go later to the villas well known for their orgies with police outside to protect the guests.”
But Mickael recalled how Weinstein was minutes from death at Naomi Campbell’s birthday party at the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc. He said: “People ran out to say Harvey was flat out on the floor and could hardly breathe.
“Luckily for Harvey someone found a surgeon who lived nearby on the Cap D’Antibes.
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“It appeared he had eaten so much from the buffet that it was too much for the sort of gastric band he had fitted.
“The surgeon did a manipulation that allowed Harvey’s food to go down, so he could breathe more easily. He told me Harvey would have died within 30 minutes if he had not intervened.
The amazing thing was that when he opened his eyes and saw me, he said, ‘F*** you, go home.’ Then he went back to the buffet and started eating again.’’
Mickael quit working for Weinstein after he allegedly attacked him in 2013 when he failed to track down two East European hookers.
WEINSTEIN’S ACCUSERS: Harvey Weinstein allegations and accusers – from Myleene Klass to Gwyneth Paltrow
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Weinstein was at a launch party at VIP hangout Club 55 in Saint-Tropez — and afterwards handed Mickael a note with two phone numbers.
He then barked: “Find out where these girls live.” Mickael went on: “The arrangement had already been made and Harvey only wanted the address. That was so he could pick them up and enter the hotel with the girls as his guests.
“Trouble is they were not there. They had misunderstood and caught a taxi to the hotel where staff wouldn’t let them in.”
Mickael said furious Weinstein then hit him while he was driving and crushed his €1800 shades in his fist.
The Sun on Sunday has seen the complaint Mickael filed to Cannes police about the incident, which left him with a broken finger, bruised ribs and facial injuries. He said Weinstein ranted: “The Mafia will find you and put you in the boot, you will disappear and no one will know what’s happened to you.
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“He then dragged his index finger across his throat as if to indicate I would be guillotined.”
Mickael added: “He attacked me violently as I was trying to keep the car on the road. I stopped the car and told me I would never work for him again. But it still wasn’t over for him. His last words he screamed as he went into the hotel were, ‘Go and find those bitches.’’’ Weinstein denied the attack to police. The investigation was later dropped because there were no independent witnesses and Mickael waited too long to make a complaint.
Mickael added: “It’s poor Georgina I feel sorry for the most. I drove her a few times and she was always very sweet. I think she was embarrassed by the way her husband bullied me and his other staff. Thankfully I won’t see or work for him again.”
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BOARD BARRED
HARVEY Weinstein used a team of “super lawyers” to block a sex assault investigation by his own board members, it was claimed yesterday.
Ambra Battilana Gutierrez, 24, reported Weinstein to New York cops and later taped an apparent confession but the movie mogul was never charged.
Two concerned directors of The Weinstein Company also launched their own probe into the 2015 allegation.
But Lance Maerov and Tarak Ben Ammar claim they were denied access to Weinstein’s HR personnel file.
Mr Maerov told the Financial Times it “felt like I was at the Mad Hatter’s tea party”.
Weinstein was fired from the company after a string of sex allegations surfaced this month.
His accusers include Myleene Klass, Lysette Anthony, Cara Delevingne, Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow and Kate Beckinsale.
Weinstein denies any claims of non-consensual sex.
UK police investigate allegation of sexual assault against film producer Harvey Weinstein
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