Rose McGowan has been named by The New York Times as an actress who was sexually assaulted by movie producer Harvey Weinstein 20 years ago in a Utah hotel room during the Sundance Film Festival.
The accusation opened the flood gates to several other women, including big names such as Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow and Heather Graham as well as lesser-known stars like Lea Sedyoux, to come forward with their stories of harassment.
But two weeks ago 44-year-old McGowan was already speaking of the horrors of certain Hollywood people when she was interviewed by The Fall magazine, which is still on sale now.
Candid lady: Rose McGowan talked to The Fall weeks ago about the abused of Hollywood and how the industry acts as a ‘mafia’
Bad times: Last week The New York Times reported the star was paid off by Harvey Weinstein after her assaulted her; here Rose and Harvey are seen in 2007 in Los Angeles
‘I’m not saying things that are earth-shattering. I’m just the only one saying them,’ said the Charmed star.
The interview was conducted in June.
She talked of the sexism and abuse she had encountered as a young actress in Hollywood. It caused her to leave her acting career in LA behind to become a director in NYC.
Brave: ‘I’m not saying things that are earth-shattering. I’m just the only one saying them,’ said the Charmed star
Rose blossoms again: She talked of the sexism and abuse she had encountered as a young actress in Hollywood. It caused her to leave her acting career in LA behind to become a director in NYC
Rose became outspoken about how Hollywood treats women poorly in June 2015 when she sent a tweet about how she was encouraged in casting notes to wear a push-up bra for Adam Sandler’s comedy The Do-Over on Netflix.
As a result, her agent fired her.
But stars like Jessica Chastain supported her.
The start: Rose became outspoken about how Hollywood treats women poorly in June 2015 when she sent a tweet about how she was encouraged in casting notes to wear a push-up bra for Adam Sandler’s comedy The Do-Over on Netflix
In 2016, McGowan alleged on Twitter that she had been raped by a studio executive several years ago. She said that his behavior was ‘an open secret in Hollywood/Media.’
She never named Weinstein, but The New York Times reported said was paid $100,000 by the producer in a 1997 settlement.
Rose has since tweeted about the Weinstein allegations. She also asked if the public can now call Weinstein a ‘rapist.’
Outspoken: In 2016, McGowan alleged on Twitter that she had been raped by a studio executive several years ago. She said that his behavior was ‘an open secret in Hollywood/Media’
She told The Fall: ‘I kind of realized Hollywood acts as a mafia, except I realized one day that they never asked me to join. They just assumed I’d keep their secrets. Nobody goes against them for fear of reprisal. Well, I’m not afraid.’
The cover girl, who is writing a memoir called Brave, added: ‘I didn’t think it was that big of a deal. That’s the thing. I’m not saying things that are earth-shattering. I’m just the only one saying them.’
Addressing sexism in Hollywood has not been easy on Rose: ‘The thing with being brave is that your ankles do shake. You are scared, but you do it anyway because it’s the right thing to do.’
Fearless: She told The Fall: ‘I kind of realized Hollywood acts as a mafia, except I realized one day that they never asked me to join’
More: She added, ‘They just assumed I’d keep their secrets. Nobody goes against them for fear of reprisal. Well, I’m not afraid’
She has quit acting to focus on singing and directing. She is also involved in a makeup line. The star also left Los Angeles to live in New York City.
Rose doesn’t miss acting and when a friend asked her to be in front of the camera for a video, she experienced PTSD.
‘I turned down something last year that was with an Oscar-winning director. I was like, “Good for you. Good for you for being an Oscar-winning director. Congratulations. I don’t want to be part of this.”‘
And there are no regrets: ‘Freedom, God, it feels damn good. I feel great. I love getting to use my creativity, instead of being like a couch that could speak. That’s often what I felt like when I was acting. A piece of furniture that spoke. Hollywood literally doesn’t know what to do if you don’t want to be famous. They don’t know what to do.’
Another brave beauty: Ashley Judd, seen here in late September, said that Harvey hit on her in a hotel room in Beverly Hills when she made his film Kiss The Girls
She got Harvey’d too: Gwyneth Paltrow (L) was hit on by Weinstein; here she and the producer are seen with Hillary Rodham Clinton at the film premiere of Shakespeare in Love in 1998
And she thinks women are given terrible roles. ‘People say, “Oh, they put strong women in their films,” but look at what they do to the women in their films, especially [Quentin] Tarantino. It’s really disturbing.
‘[In Grindhouse], one girl gets her face mown by a tyre. Another girl’s vagina gets cut in half. Come on. This is like somebody telling you what they think of women. Let’s be real.’
Rose also talks growing up in the Children Of God cult and how it prepared her for Hollywood because both required her to look pretty and go along with what she was told.
While directing her new movie the power went out and she sat alone to think.
She spoke out too: Angelina Jolie, seen on Wednesday, said she was hit on by Weinstein and chose to never work with him again as a result
‘I wasn’t being distracted by music or movies. I just started thinking that day. I had the epiphany that I hated acting, and I had always hated acting. And I hated fantasy, and I’ve always hated fantasy. I was like, Aha! It was like this brain flash.’
Now she likes being in NYC.
‘I still felt loneliness [without the Hollywood component] and things like that, but I’ve always been kind of alone. I was like that when I was a child, and then I’m sold as a sex symbol in Hollywood, and what that does is it ostracises you from women, and it makes every man think he can touch you and own you.
‘And I’ve lived a very solitary existence, until really only the past two and a half years. I feel like I’m this kind of wild animal that’s been socialised slightly.’