Cate Blanchett says she was sexually harassed by Harvey Weinstein
Cate Blanchett says she too was sexually harassed by Harvey Weinstein.
In a new interview with Variety, Blanchett was asked point blank if Weinstein ever sexually harassed her or acted inappropriately.
"With me, yes. I think he really primarily preyed, like most predators, on the vulnerable. I mean I got a bad feeling from him," she said. "He would often say to me, 'We’re not friends.'"
When asked what Weinstein meant by that, the two-time Oscar winner, 48, responded, "Well, I wouldn't do what he was asking me to do."
Blanchett declined to give specific details. She went on to say that Weinstein "was brought on as the producer on many films that I had absolutely no say on. I didn’t have a creative or functional relationship with him."
Weinstein was a producer on several of Blanchett's films, including "The Talented Mr. Ripley" and "Carol."
His rep did not respond immediately to a request for comment from ABC News.
Though Harvey Weinstein has apologized for his behavior and sought professional help, his spokeswoman has said previously that "any allegations of nonconsensual sex are unequivocally denied by Mr. Weinstein."
Following numerous claims and news reports of sexual misconduct and assault, Weinstein was fired from the company that bears his name, banned from the Producer's Guild of America and expelled from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Blanchett won an Oscar for best actress in 2014 for her role in Woody Allen's film "Blue Jasmine."
"I had a very productive time working with Woody, and he has written some of the most extraordinary roles for women," she told Variety. "But at the time I worked with him I knew absolutely nothing about what was going on, and it came out subsequently."
Blanchett was referring to the allegations made by Allen's estranged daughter, Dylan Farrow, that he sexually assaulted her at age 7.
Allen has consistently denied the abuse allegation, maintaining his ex and Farrow's mother, actress Mia Farrow, coached their daughter into making the claims. The director was investigated on child molestation claims for the alleged 1992 incident in Connecticut, but prosecutors elected not to charge him.
"Obviously, Dylan Farrow has been living in a world of pain, and if the case has not been properly tried, then it needs to be reopened and go back into court because that's a place where those things get solved," Blanchett told Variety.
Asked if she would work with Allen again, she replied, "Far more important than me adding to yet another headline...and finger-pointing is, if that issue has not been dealt with...I am absolutely for it to go back into the courts because there lies the solution."
