Actress Salma Hayek published a disturbing history of her interactions with disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, calling him “my monster” for his repeated sexual harassment, threats, and mistreatment.
Hayek, in a New York Times op-ed, explained her initial fear of coming forward, but she said that she ultimately decided to open up about her experience after a number of other women did so.
The actress details her experience making the movie Frida about Mexican artist Frida Kahlo with Weinstein. She alleges not only having to say no to his sexual advances, but also having to endure his anger, his criticism of her acting skills, and his demands for a nude sex scene in the film.
“Little did I know it would become my turn to say no,” she writes.
Hayek claims she said no to a laundry list of sexual harassment including him showing up at her hotel room door and demands that she take a shower with him, give him a massage, and let him perform oral sex on her.
“And with every refusal came Harvey’s Machiavellian rage,” she said.
In her struggle with Weinstein to get Frida produced , Hayek explains that she eventually felt that she needed to say yes.
“He offered me one option to continue,” she writes. “He would let me finish the film if I agreed to do a sex scene with another woman. And he demanded full-frontal nudity.”
During the day of the shoot Hayek explains that she had a nervous breakdown, crying, convulsing, and at one point throwing up.
“Since those around me had no knowledge of my history of Harvey, they were very surprised by my struggle that morning,” she writes. “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.”
The film would ultimately get six nominations and win two Academy Awards.
Weinstein has been accused of sexual harassment and assault by a growing list of women—over three dozen, according to Teen Vogue—including actresses Rose McGowan, Ashley Judd, Angelina Jolie, and Gwyneth Paltrow.
Coins2Day contacted The Weinstein Company about Hayek’s allegations. Weinstein has previously denied any non-consensual sex and provided this statement to the New York Times after its original article in October in which women accused him of sexual harassment.
