Harvey Weinstein News: Former Assistant Details How Film Producer Silenced Her Sexual Harassment Complaint
Harvey Weinstein's former assistant recently came forward to detail how the infamous film producer had been covering up sexual harassment cases through settlements.
Earlier this month, many women working in Hollywood claimed that they were victims of sexual harassment from Weinstein.
Former Miramax London staff and Weinstein assistant Zelda Perkins recently decided "to publicly break" her non-disclosure agreement to detail how Weinstein got away with the sexual abuse allegations for years, according to an interview she had with the Financial Times.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
Perkins told FT she had also experienced sexual harassment while working as Weinstein's assistant. She said there were times when he would ask her for massages, just like he did with other actresses who encountered his inappropriate advances.
However, the last straw for Perkins was when she learned that another female staff member was sexually harassed by him in 1998 during the Venice Film Festival.
"She was in shock and crying and finding it very hard to talk. I was furious, deeply upset and very shocked. I said: 'We need to go to the police' but she was too distressed," Perkins said.
After seeking legal assistance, Perkins and her colleague were advised to seek settlement. The women were reportedly compensated and shared an amount of 250,000 British pounds. They were also compelled to sign an NDA.
Although she was not allowed to keep a copy of the entire agreement, Perkins provided FT with a copy of the NDA's pages that she had been permitted to have.
Unfortunately for Perkins who was 24 years old at the time, she said she "felt unsupported" even by her legal counsel during the settlement proceedings, despite them "following correct practice."
In the same interview, Perkins raised an important issue that involved the legal process of settling sexual harassment cases. She said: "I want to call into question the legitimacy of agreements where the inequality of power is so stark and relies on money rather than morality."
"Unless somebody does this, there won't be a debate about how egregious these agreements are and the amount of duress that victims are put under," Perkins added.
