After an October New York Times exposé opened the door to sexual abuse allegations against film producer Harvey Weinstein, dozens of women have come forward with stories of their own. The latest is actress Salma Hayek, who detailed her harrowing experience with Weinstein while working on the critically successful 2002 film Frida.
Hayek shared in an op-ed for the Times that she had always looked up to Frida Kahlo, and was determined to tell her story on film. She finally got that chance with a producing credit and starring role in Frida, which she took to Miramax and, by extension, Weinstein.
Videos by PopCulture.com
Things immediately took a terrifying turn for Hayek, who wrote that Weinstein would make demands of her that included opening her hotel door to him, taking a shower with him, letting him watch her take a shower, giving him a massage, letting him give her a massage, letting a naked friend of his give her a massage, giving him oral sex and getting naked with another woman.
“I don’t think he hated anything more than the word ‘no,’ ” Hayek wrote. “The absurdity of his demands went from getting a furious call in the middle of the night asking me to fire my agent for a fight he was having with him about a different movie with a different client to physically dragging me out of the opening gala of the Venice Film Festival.”
Hayek continued, “The range of his persuasion tactics went from sweet-talking me to that one time when, in an attack of fury, he said the terrifying words, ‘I will kill you, don’t think I can’t.’ “
She also wrote that Weinstein threatened to shut down production of the film unless Hayek “agreed to do a sex scene with another woman.”
“And he demanded full-frontal nudity,” the actress continued. “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. I had to say yes.”
Weinstein has denied the allegations against him.
Photo Credit: Tinseltown / Shutterstock.com
