Jennifer Lawrence on Harvey Weinstein: 'I Didn't Know He Was a Rapist'
Many women have come forward accusing Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault, but Jennifer Lawrence says she was in the dark about the film producer's unacceptable behavior when the news first came out.
In an interview conducted by Oprah Winfrey for The Hollywood Reporter, the Academy Award winner revealed that she required time to take everything in because he had only been fatherly to her.
"Just speaking for myself, I had known him since I was 20, and he had only ever been nice to me — except for the moments that he wasn't, and then I called him an asshole, and we moved on. He was paternal to me," she said. "So I needed a moment to process everything because I thought I knew this guy, and then he's being accused of rape."
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She continued to describe Weinstein as a "tough guy" and a "brute," but she maintained that she was unaware of his true persona.
"I didn't know that he was a rapist," she said.
Weinstein has been labeled a pariah in Hollywood as of late. A large number of women have gone public with stories of Weinstein's sexual misdeeds, including actresses Rose McGowan, Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow, Cara Delevingne, Kate Beckinsale, and Heather Graham.
Weinstein has since been fired from The Weinstein Company, a film studio he had founded with his brother, Bob. The Weinstein Company notably produced and distributed "Silver Linings Playbook," the film that earned Lawrence her first Oscar win.
After the Weinstein scandal broke, numerous other men have been accused of sexual harassment or assault, according to Time, including actors Ben Affleck, Kevin Spacey, Dustin Hoffman, Jeffrey Tambor, Danny Masterson, comedian Louis C.K., magician David Blaine, directors Brett Ratner and Oliver Stone, as well as former President George H. W. Bush.
The list goes on, and Lawrence, for one, is looking forward to the kind of movement that is happening due to these sexual abuse stories.
"I'm sad by the women's stories, but I'm excited by the change that's going to come from it," she said.
