Ashley Judd Speaks out for First Time Since Harvey Weinstein Accusations Broke

Ashley Judd was one of the initial actresses named in the New York Times‘ exposé on Harvey Weinstein, which in turn launched a tidal wave of allegations against the producer. On Thursday, the actress appeared in an interview with ABC News, which aired on Good Morning America, to speak about the accusations and share a message to Weinstein.

Speaking to Diane Sawyer, Judd recounted a remark Weinstein made to her in 1999. Judd says he told her, “Remember that little agreement we made? Think I’ve got that script for you.”

She added that later on, she had reached the “up with which I could not put.”

“I had come into my own, I had come into my power, I had found my voice and I was coming right at him,” she said.

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She continued, “He looked at me and he said, ‘You know Ashley, I’m going to let you out of that little agreement we made.’ And I said, ‘You do that Harvey, you do that.’ And he has spat my name at me ever since.”

Judd later made two movies at Weinstein’s studio and says she does not remember the producer being a big presence on set.

When Sawyer remarked that Weinstein had said in a statement that he would try to be better, Judd responded, “Trying is lying.”

In the exposé, Judd said that two decades ago, Weinstein had invited her to his hotel for what she assumed was a business meeting. Instead, she said, they spoke in his suite, where he asked her for a massage, a shoulder rub, to help her pick out his clothes and to watch him shower, all of which she refused.

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Judd, who said she felt “panicky, trapped,” shared that to leave the room, she joked that if Weinstein wanted to touch her, she would have to win an Oscar in one of his films first.

“I believe that there is hope and help for everyone,” the actress told Sawyer. “It has to be the appropriate help, and there has to be a real profound understanding on the part of the sexual predator that what they were doing was wrong and criminal.”

When asked what she would say to Weinstein, Judd responded with an answer that stems from her faith, though she made it clear she would never forgive what Weinstein has done.

“I love you and I understand that you are sick and suffering, and there is help for a guy like you too,” she said.

Weinstein has denied all allegations of non-consensual sex.

Photo Credit: Twitter / @ABC