After video resurfaced of Ben Affleck allegedly touching a reporter inappropriately during a junket interview in 2004, the French-Canadian reporter is coming to the actor’s defense.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Anne-Marie Losique told the publication she is not “thrilled to have that interview mixed” with the other stories because they are not “at all the same thing.”
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Filmed 13 years ago for the film Jersey Girl, Losique tells THR that the interview was “taken out of context” and being used “unfairly” against the Batman actor.
Anne-Marie Losique says a widely-circulated interview she did with Ben Affleck 13 years ago is being taken out of context and unfairly used against the Batman actor.
“This was for the camera,” she said. “You have to understand that we have done dozens and dozens of interviews like that. It was for a show I was producing, so I was not at all a victim.”
Losique reveals that when the cameras rolled on, “we would start to do that game,” adding hat it was all an “act.”
“As soon as it stopped rolling, there was none of that. He never touched me in any improper way. He was very respectful, I must say,” she said of the interview, which aired on a Canadian TV and magazine series called Box-Office.
Losique stresses how there were more than 20 people in the room at the time of taping, with both both she and Affleck understanding how interview would be on TV and internet.
“It has been blown out of proportion,” she said. “I know that people like fishing for anything, but this is completely out of context. I would like this to not have any negative impact on him. I find it sad.”
The interview resurfaced a day after Affleck condemned Harvey Weinstein for the sexual assault and harassment of several women in the business.
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“I am saddened and angry that a man who I worked with used his position of power to intimidate, sexually harass and manipulate many women over decades,” the 45-year-old father of three posted to his Facebook, Tuesday.
However, Affleck’s statement inflammed other accusations against the actor, including one from Hilarie Burton, who shared he had groped her breast during a visit to MTV’s TRL in 2003. Affleck apologized hours after the claims surfaced, saying he acted “inappropriately.”
That was when the Losique-Affleck interview reappeared, a clip that Losique says is still aired in Quebec, and talked about in a funny manner.
“But in this case, it is more of a delicate issue because of everything that is happening,” she said.
“I can’t say I am thrilled to have that interview mixed in with the other stories because I don’t think that is at all the same thing.”
However, Losique does tell THR that she had an uncomfortable moment with Weinstein years ago at the acclaimed Toronto Film Festival.
“Yes, I met him quite a few times,” she began. “I knew he was a player. He did invite me once at [TIFF] to go up to his suite for an interview. Of course I did not go. And it stopped there. He said, ‘I would be more comfortable in my suite.’ I said, ‘Umm no.’ I am not saying something would have happened, but I made sure nothing happened.”
