'He's Big and Fat, So I Had to Be Forceful to Resist Him'

New Harvey Weinstein accusers emerge
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 12, 2017 4:14 AM CDT
Updated Oct 12, 2017 6:21 AM CDT
Weinstein: 'I Gotta Get Help'
Harvey Weinstein is seen at the "Reservoir Dogs" 25th anniversary screening during the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival in New York.   (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP, File)

Harvey Weinstein, facing the implosion of his career and his marriage amid a flood of sexual assault and misconduct allegations, says he's seeking help. "I gotta get help, guys," he told reporters outside his 22-year-old daughter's Los Angeles home Wednesday, per TMZ, which reports that he flew to an Arizona treatment facility Wednesday night. "I am profoundly devastated," Weinstein said in a statement to Page Six. "I have lost my wife and kids, whom I love more than anything else." He apologized to everybody hurt by his actions, but he maintained that he believed all the encounters were consensual. In other developments:

  • 911 call. Earlier Wednesday, police went to the home of Weinstein's daughter, Remy, after a 911 caller said a man there was "suicidal and depressed," sources tell the New York Daily News. Weinstein yelled at his daughter in the street and tried to flag down a passing car to take him away, according to TMZ. Police determined it was a family dispute and no suicidal remarks were made.

  • A lot of pain. In a statement to USA Today, Weinstein said he discussed "what was best for the family" with wife Georgina Chapman and acknowledged he had caused "a lot of pain." He said he supports her decision to leave him. "I understand, I love her and I love our children and hopefully, when I am better, I will be in their lives again," he said.
  • Seth MacFarlane. MacFarlane says his joke about Weinstein during the announcement of Academy Awards nominations was inspired by anger at the producer's harassment of his friend Jessica Barth two years earlier, the Los Angeles Times reports. When MacFarlane announced the supporting actress nominations, he quipped that they "no longer had to pretend to be attracted to" Weinstein. "Make no mistake, this came from a place of loathing and anger," he said Wednesday.
  • Oscar meeting. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said in a statement Wednesday that it will meet Oct. 14 to discuss the "repugnant" behavior Weinstein is accused of and decide on further action, Variety reports. BAFTA, the Academy's British counterpart, has already suspended Weinstein indefinitely.
  • Cara Delevingne. In an Instagram post Wednesday, model Cara Delevingne accused Weinstein of harassment, saying that after a meeting early in her career, Weinstein started to "brag about all the actresses he had slept with and how he had made their careers and spoke about other inappropriate things of a sexual nature." She said he then pressured her to go to his hotel room, where he tried to get her to kiss another woman.
  • Lea Seydoux. Yet another accuser, Blue Is the Warmest Color star Lea Seydoux, says she had to fight Weinstein off when he lunged at her after inviting her to his hotel room to discuss her career. "We were talking on the sofa when he suddenly jumped on me and tried to kiss me," she tells the Guardian. "I had to defend myself. He's big and fat, so I had to be forceful to resist him."
  • Payoff knowledge. Harvey Weinstein's brother, Bob, and other Weinstein Company board members said this week that the allegations were an "utter surprise." The New York Times, however, reports that the company knew about Weinstein's confidential payoffs to accusers for at least two years.
  • Bannon connection. The AP reports that Steve Bannon, who has used Breitbart.com to attack Democrats for accepting donations from Weinstein, has his own ties to the producer: He made "substantial revenues" from a now-defunct joint venture with the Weinstein Company that was set up in 2005.
(More Harvey Weinstein stories.)

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