Actress Alice Evans says Harvey Weinstein came onto her by suggesting they go to a bathroom so he could touch her ‘tits.’ She rejected the offer- and says it may have ruined her, and her husband’s careers.
Evans, an English actress, says in an essay she wrote for the Telegraph that she met Weinstein at a party in 2002 at the Cannes Film Festival. They chatted for a bit-before the disgraced producer made his move.
‘Suddenly, out of nowhere, he’s asking me to go into the hotel bathroom with him. I laugh, make a joke. Keep rambling. But he continues. ”Just go. I’m right behind you. I want to touch your tits. Kiss you a little.” He moves right up close to me and looks me up and down,’ says Evans.
Alice Evans with her husband Ioan Gruff. She says rejecting Harvey Weinstein may have ruined both of their careers
She was dating her now husband Ioan Gruff, and he had just, the day before, tested for a role with Weinstein- and he seemed to know all of this when he made his proposition.
What happened next was crushing. She says after rejecting Weinstein he ominously told her: ‘Let’s hope it all works out for your boyfriend.’ It would not work out for Gruff.
Evans didn’t think Weinstein would come onto her when her conversation started with him that night, she thought ‘I’m not that type of girl.’ Though she admitted ‘does anyone really feel like they’re?’
She also mentioned her boyfriend from the outset of their conversation,’ she thought- not even thinking about his reputation in the industry.
Nervously chatting with him she says she blurted out ‘My boyfriend screen-tested for you in New York yesterday.’ She recalled the producer saying ‘I know. He did an incredible job. He’s a talented guy.’
The actress knew about his power in the industry as she started her conversation with Weinstein that evening. ‘This is my moment to impress Harvey Weinstein. If I’m boring he’ll walk away and I may never get a second chance.’
Evans said the come-on by Weinstein was not ‘your average tipsy come-on. It’s sinister. The sort of thing that makes you want to run away fast.’
The day after her encounter with Weinstein- she runs into him again. ‘I spot Harvey at a party and make my way over to say hello. I’m not sure what to expect, but I’m hoping to hear some friendly banter so I can stop worrying.’
I tap Harvey’s shoulder. He spins around and for a second I see his face cloud, then turn steely. ”Do I know you?” he asks calmly. Then he walks away and I’m left standing there, stunned,’ Evans recalls.
At a meeting with Gruff’s management the following day, with Evans in tow, they are realizing the phone isn’t ringing for Gruff’s gig with Weinstein.
When her then boyfriend goes to the bathroom, the guy from the management team quietly asks Evans ‘So what really happened with Harvey?’
‘And I tell him – by this point desperate for some sympathy,’ she says he responded ‘I was worried you might say that. They called this morning. It’s not going Ioan’s way. I’m not going to tell him just yet – he’s got interviews to do this afternoon and I don’t want to upset him.’
Evans says Weinstein didn’t do anything wrong, but that ‘he propositioned me, overtly, repeatedly, then he turned nasty when I said no, but that’s not illegal. And yet I can’t help feeling I’m the one who has behaved badly here – and that somehow I will be made to pay.’