The non-binary model who received texts from Asia Argento in which she admitted to having sex with an underage actor in 2013 has spoken out for the first time since the incriminating exchange was leaked.
Rain Dove, who neither prescribes to being male or female, is the person whose texts with Argento were revealed after the Italian actress denied ever sleeping with Jimmy Bennett, a child actor she met when he was seven.
They were introduced to Argento by Rose McGowan, her lover of several months.
In the texts, Argento claimed Bennett ‘jumped’ her in a hotel room in 2013. They were leaked to TMZ last week after Argento issued a strongly worded denial saying she never slept with Bennett but had been extorted by him.
Speaking in an interview with Today on Wednesday, Dove insisted it was not them who gave TMZ the texts but admits handing them over to police.
Rain Dove spoke out in an interview on Thursday to confirm giving the texts to police after watching Argento publicly deny sleeping with Jimmy Bennett
Asia Argento was accused of sexually assaulting child actor Jimmy Bennett. They are pictured together in May 2013 when he says the attack took place. She denied sleeping with him after quietly agreeing to pay him $380,000 this year. She claims her late boyfriend Anthony Bourdain paid him
The model said they had ‘no choice’ after watching Argento deny what they knew to be true.
‘I was not the person who leaked them to TMZ. I just wanted them to be a part of the legal process going forward.
‘When it became apparent that they were not going to allow for justice to occur or for truth to be on the table, I knew I had no choice but to go forward otherwise I would be complicit and I would be robbing another individual of their ability to be heard and their story,’ Dove said.
Dove was gentle in their analysis of how it the scandal has transpired.
‘I’m not anti-Asia or anti-anything. I just believe that Jimmy Bennett deserves to have justice and I believe that due process deserves to happen,’ they said.
They went on to say they wished Argento will be able to ‘heal’ and go back to being an advocate for sexual assault victims.
‘Hopefully healing can occur and rehabilitation and they can go back to being an advocate for so many people.
‘I really hope that that’s the case for Asia because they were a really powerful advocate at one point in this movement,’ they said.
The scandal started to unfold in June in the days after Argento’s boyfriend, CNN star Anthony Bourdain, killed himself.
Dove, who is a non binary model, said they felt compelled to speak out because ‘Jimmy Bennett deserves to have justice’
Argento and Bennett met when they played a mother and her son in The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things in 2004 when he was seven and she was 28
Dove and Rose McGowan, whom Argento had grown close to while leading the #MeToo movement, flew to Berlin to be with her.
One night, Argento explained that life without Bourdain would be difficult because of all of the ways he had helped her when he was alive.
‘Asia had mentioned that one of the things is difficult in their life right now with Anthony passing, there was a huge gap in that this individual had helped them out a lot in life and one of the things they he helped them out with was an extortion case in which an individual was extorting Asia for $10,000 a month,’ Dove explained.
Neither Dove nor Argento knew who the person was at the time.
They only learned it was Bennett when The New York Times published details of Argento and Bourdain paying him on August 19.
Dove is dating Rose McGowan, Argento’s former #MeToo partner. They are shown together in March
After Argento denied it, the texts emerged as did photographs of she and Bennett lying naked in bed.
Argento said her late boyfriend Anthony Bourdain paid Bennett to quieten him
McGowan later issued an explosive statement saying Argento complained to her about receiving unsolicited naked pictures from Bennett from when he was 12.
She has distanced herself from the Italian actress and is now urging her to be honest about what happened.
‘Many people believe that because we have been close in each other’s lives over the past year that perhaps I am affiliated with this incident or being complicit. I am not.
Asia you were my friend. I loved you. You’ve spent and risked a lot to stand with the MeToo movement.
‘I really hope you find your way through this process to rehabilitation and betterment. Anyone can be be better- I hope you can be, too. Do the right thing. Be honest. Be fair. Let justice stay its course. Be the person you wish Harvey could have been,’ she said.
Argento has not commented on the photograph of her with Bennett, the leaked text messages or McGowan’s statement.