Another alleged victim of Harvey Weinstein has shared her story, joining the 50-plus women who have come forward to accuse the once-powerful Hollywood movie mogul of sexual harassment and assault.
Natassia Malthe, an actress and former model, claims Weinstein sexually forced himself on her and also “lured” her to the Peninsula Beverly Hills in an attempt to have a threesome. The alleged sexual assault, which her attorney Gloria Allred described as penetration without her consent, happened in 2008. Before sharing her statement during a press conference in New York City on Wednesday, Allred spoke directly to The Weinstein Co. about their ousted co-founder.
“It’s time for The Weinstein Co. to put their money where their mouths are,” said Allred, claiming the Hollywood production company has not shown that they are “sincere” or that they intend to take any action. Referring to a report that the company was aware of certain settlements and had renegotiated a contract with Weinstein, Allred says she is interested in TWC acting on Weinstein’s behavior while employed. “Let the world know they stand with Harvey’s victims,” she said. “They made many, many, many millions of dollars while Harvey Weinstein was behaving in the most egregious and reprehensible acts imaginable.”
Allred outlined a proposal for the company to start a fund for Weinstein’s alleged victims, since in many cases, the reported attacks are not within the statute of limitations. “It’s easy to weep crocodile tears for Harvey’s victims. Action and concrete steps are needed,” she said.
Allred said she sent a letter to TWC requesting to meet with the board of directors. They approved the meeting, but on Tuesday night she was notified that the meeting would only be with the company’s lawyers, she said. As a result, Allred said she declined. She did not name a proposed number for the fund, but said she hopes to “seriously discuss justice for victims” with the board if they change their minds. Allred also said she has been in touch with the New York Police Department.
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Malthe then shared her story, another graphic account, explaining that she was coming forward now, despite her reluctance, for her 3-year-old son and all women who aspire to have careers in Hollywood. Though she did not go to the police about the alleged incident, Allred said her client is considering her options.
Malthe said she met Weinstein on Feb. 10, 2008, when working as the spokesperson for LG at the BAFTA Awards in London. At the high-profile afterparty, her publicist suggested she take a picture with Weinstein, and when they interacted, he asked her where she was staying and she told him, the Sanderson Hotel. Malthe returned to her hotel that night and got ready for bed, but said she was “startled” and awakened by a repeating pounding at her door and Weinstein yelling, “Open the door, Natassia Malthe, it’s Harvey Weinstein.”
When Malthe opened the door, Weinstein’s clothes were messy and his face “did not look normal, I wondered if he was on drugs,” she recalled. He barged into her room, took off his pants and sat on her bed, she said. “He was a very large man and at the time I weighed 98 pounds,” Malthe explained. After speaking about A-list actresses whom he had slept with, made famous and later were made to thank him in their Oscar speeches, she recounted, she said she told him she doesn’t believe in the “casting couch.”
“This was after he had taken out his penis and started masturbating in front of me,” Malthe said. “It was not consensual. He did not use a condom. However, he did not ejaculate inside me. After having sexual intercourse, he masturbated.”
Of the alleged act, she said, “I believe I dissociated during the time he was having sex with me. … I played dead.”
Weinstein later sent her a script for the musical Nine and offered to set up a meeting with Malthe and director Rob Marshall for a part. She did a dance audition for both Weinstein and Marshall, the latter telling her she needed to train with a dance and voice coach.
Malthe began training and Weinstein asked her to meet at the Peninsula Beverly Hills to talk about the film. She told him “explicitly” that there would be no “hanky-panky” and was told his assistant would be present, she recalled Wednesday. Malthe said there was another woman in the suite when she arrived, after being escorted by the assistant, who took off her clothes and began performing oral sex on Weinstein. When asked to join, Malthe said she refused. “He and the girl were both laughing at me,” she related.
Malthe left and later told him the part wasn’t worth “what he wanted me to do in exchange.” She said she dropped the lessons and gave up competing for the role. The actress eventually moved out of the U.S. and claims to have suffered depression and anxiety from the experience.
“Actresses should not have to demean themselves to be successful,” Malthe said, adding that she has experienced sexual harassment from other unnamed powerful Hollywood men, but that Weinstein was “the worst.” She added, “Hollywood men should not be allowed to force women to gratify them sexually in order to get ahead.”
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Allred, a women’s rights advocate, now represents four Weinstein accusers and says several other clients are considering speaking out. On Tuesday, the attorney held a news conference with Mimi Haleyi, a former production assistant who claimed Weinstein “orally forced himself” on her in 2006 when she was in her 20s during a visit to his New York City apartment. Weinstein accuser Louisette Geiss, who alleged the Hollywood producer sexually harassed her at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, and actress Heather Kerr, who claims Weinstein forced himself on her during a private meeting, are also being represented by Allred.
Ahead of Wednesday’s press conference, Allred said her client would share what she alleges to have suffered as a result of meeting Weinstein. Allred made the announcement about her newest client during an appearance on NBC’s Megyn Kelly Today earlier in the day, where she and Haleyi were joined by another new Weinstein accuser, Dominique Huett, who is the first to file a lawsuit against The Weinstein Co. for allegedly enabling Weinstein’s behavior. The suit was filed Tuesday in Los Angeles.
Weinstein was terminated from the company he co-founded shortly after his alleged decades of harassment and assault — which now includes multiple rape claims — were first reported in both The New York Times and The New Yorker earlier this month. He is now under investigation by the NYPD, LAPD and London police but has yet to be charged with a crime.
Weinstein has unequivocally denied any allegations of nonconsensual sex and any acts of retaliation against any women for refusing his advances. He has yet to comment on Wednesday’s claim.
Tatiana Tenreyro contributed to this report.
