Colin Firth has admitted regret after keeping mum when actress Sophie Dix opened up to him about abuse she suffered at the hands of the disgraced movie mogul decades back.
Speaking with The Guardian on Friday, the talented actor said that Dix, his co-star in 1993’s The Advocate (called The Hour of the Pig in the U.K.), had opened up to him about a horrifying run-in with the film executive, which she told the paper earlier this week occurred in 1990.
The 57-year-old actor won his only Oscar for playing King George VI in The Weinstein Company’s The King Speech.
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Looking the other way? Colin Firth, 57, (R) admits he regrets not speaking up after a co-star revealed to him ‘a distressing encounter with’ Harvey Weinstein (L) decades back
‘She told me she had had a distressing encounter with Harvey Weinstein,’ Firth told the newspaper. ‘I don’t think she went into all the horrific detail I’ve read in her interview. But I remember her being profoundly upset by it.
‘To my shame, I merely expressed sympathy … I didn’t act on what she told me.’
Firth said that Dix’s revelation to him came ‘a long time ago,’ adding, ‘I don’t know if she remembers telling me, but the fact that I had that conversation has come back to haunt me in the light of these revelations,’ as Weinstein has been accused by at least 30 women in the entertainment industry of sexual abuse and harassment.
Amid ongoing speculation over who knew what around Tinseltown regarding the producer’s decades of alleged misdeeds, Firth said Dix’s story was ‘only direct account of this kind of behavior by Harvey Weinstein that’s ever been told to me.’
Career-ender: Actress Sophie Dix, seen in this 1995 shot, said that Weinstein pushed her on a bed, tried to take her clothes off and later pleasured himself in front of her. She said that the traumatic experience effectively put an end to her film career
Regrets, he’s had a few: The Oscar-winner told the paper that he’s haunted he knew inklings of Weinstein’s alleged misdeeds decades back, ‘in the light of these revelations’
Dix earlier this week said that Weinstein assaulted her at a London hotel in 1990 when she was 22, pushing her on a bed and trying to take her clothes off. After she locked herself in a bathroom, she later opened it up to see Weinstein ‘standing there masturbating.’
She said the incident left her depressed and stifled a promising movie career, adding, ‘I decided if this what being an actress is like, I don’t want it.’
Dix told the paper her attempts to expose the assault was met with ‘a wall of silence.’
Coming clean: Weinstein, seen last month in NYC, admitted he’s ’caused a lot of pain’ with his behavior, marked by dozens of stories of vicious bullying in addition to the sex accusations
Way back when: Firth is seen in costume in the 1993 movie The Advocate, in which he worked with Dix
Firth initially told the newspaper this week that he felt nauseous as he witnessed the flood of stories about Weinstein, describing the producer as ‘a powerful and frightening man to stand up to.
‘Those of us who didn’t act on our one bit of knowledge – and especially those of us who went on to work with Weinstein – have that on our conscience.’
He lauded Dix for her courage, noting he was ‘extremely pleased that Sophie is speaking out after so many years.’
Dix told the paper on Friday in response to Firth’s initial statement: ‘I am delighted Colin has spoken and I remember him being very supportive at the time.’
As Weinstein initially admitted to unprofessional behavior that has ’caused a lot of pain,’ his rep this week said that he steadfastly denies ‘any allegations of non-consensual sex.’