Advertisement

Salma Hayek says 'monster' Harvey Weinstein threatened to kill her

Salma Hayek has said that she endured years of sexual harassment at the hands of Harvey Weinstein, culminating in being forced to take part in a same-sex love scene in the movie Frida.

In a piece for the New York Times, the actress, who played artist Frida Kahlo in the biopic, called Weinstein ‘a monster’.

She also alleges that he told her ‘I will kill you, don’t think I can’t’ after she rebuffed his advances.

“Harvey Weinstein was a passionate cinephile, a risk taker, a patron of talent in film, a loving father and a monster,” she wrote.

“For years, he was my monster.”

Hayek tells of the harrowing shooting of a love scene in the movie with actress Ashley Judd, who has also accused Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault, after Weinstein threatened to shut down production if she did not do it.

“This time, it was clear to me he would never let me finish this movie without him having his fantasy one way or another. There was no room for negotiation,” she wrote.

“I arrived on the set the day we were to shoot the scene that I believed would save the movie.

“And for the first and last time in my career, I had a nervous breakdown: My body began to shake uncontrollably, my breath was short and I began to cry and cry, unable to stop, as if I were throwing up tears.”

She goes on to say that she took tranquillisers to calm her down, but they made her vomit.

“As you can imagine, this was not sexy, but it was the only way I could get through the scene,” she says.

Salma Hayek details Harvey Weinstein’s harassment on the set of Frida.
Salma Hayek details Harvey Weinstein’s harassment on the set of Frida.

“Since those around me had no knowledge of my history of Harvey, they were very surprised by my struggle that morning. It was not because I would be naked with another woman. It was because I would be naked with her for Harvey Weinstein. But I could not tell them then.”

She alleges that he would turn up at her hotel room and ask her to watch him shower, or give him a massage, or let him watch her shower, or let him perform oral sex on her.

“With every refusal came Harvey’s Machiavellian rage,” she writes. “I don’t think he hated anything more than the word ‘no’.”

Weinstein has issued a lengthy rebuttal of the claims, suggesting that he did Hayek a favour by casting her over Jennifer Lopez, who he suggests was the bigger star, and who was first choice for the role.

A statement from his spokesperson Holly Baird reads: “Mr. Weinstein does not recall pressuring Salma to do a gratuitous sex scene with a female costar and he was not there for the filming.

“However, that was part of the story, as Frida Kahlo was bisexual and the more significant sex scene in the movie was choreographed by Ms. Hayek with Geoffrey Rush.

“All of the sexual allegations as portrayed by Salma are not accurate and others who witnessed the events have a different account of what transpired.

“By Mr. Weinstein’s own admission, his boorish behavior following a screening of Frida was prompted by his disappointment in the cut of the movie—and a reason he took a firm hand in the final edit, alongside the very skilled director Julie Taymor.”

Weinstein continues to deny accusations of non-consensual sex after allegations from dozens of actresses.

Read more
Website tells you which shows feature accused harassers
Time for diverse Star Wars directors, says Rian Johnson
LAPD investigate new Polanski allegations