Lena Headey details 'powerless' encounter with Harvey Weinstein

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ANI New Delhi [India]
Last Updated : Oct 17 2017 | 11:57 PM IST

Lena Headey, known for portraying Cersei Lannister in 'Game of Thrones', has recently added her voice to the 44 other women, who have accused Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein of sexual misconduct.

The 'Game of Thrones' actress took to her Twitter handle and expressed that she "felt completely powerless," when she met the movie mogul.

Headey wrote, "The first time I met Harvey Weinstein was at The Venice Film Festival. The Brothers Grimm was showing there, (during shooting I was subjected to endless bullying by the director Terry Gilliam). At one point Harvey asked me to take a walk down to the water, I walked down with him and he stopped and made some suggestive comment, a gesture, I just laughed it off, I was genuinely shocked. I remember thinking, 'It's got to be a joke.' I said something like, 'Oh come on mate?! It'd be like kissing my dad! Let's go get a drink, get back to the others.' I was never in any other Miramax film."

"The next time was in LA. Years later. I had always carried the thought that he'd never try anything with me again, not after I'd laughed and said, "never in a million years." I believed that he respected my boundary and maybe he wanted to talk about potential work. He asked me to meet for breakfast. We ate breakfast, we talked about films, filmmaking," it added.

"He asked me a few questions about the state of my love life. I shifted the conversation back to something less personal. Then he went to the loo. He came back and said, 'Let's go up to the room, I want to give you a script.' We walked to the lift and the energy shifted. My whole body went into high alert. The lift was going up and I said to Harvey, 'I'm not interested in anything other than work, please don't think I got in here with your any other reason, nothing is going to happen.' I don't know what possessed me to speak out at that moment, only that I had such a strong sense of 'don't come near me," it added.

"He was silent after I spoke, furious. We got out of the lift and walked to his room. His hand was on my back, he was marching me forward, not a word. I felt completely powerless, he tried his key card and it didn't work. Then he got really angry. He walked me back to the lift, through the hotel to the valet, by grabbing and holding tightly to the back of my arm. He paid for my car and whispered in my ear, 'Don't tell anyone about this, not your manager, not your agent.' I got into my car and I cried," the post concluded.

Headey joins more than two dozen women - including Gwyneth Paltrow, Ashley Judd and Angelina Jolie - who have come forward to accuse Weinstein of sexual harassment, sexual assault and rape in the wake of two damning exposes uncovering decades of his alleged misconduct.

Weinstein - who has denied any allegations of nonconsensual sex - has since been fired by the Weinstein Company and expelled from the Academy.

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First Published: Oct 17 2017 | 11:57 PM IST

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