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Today actress Lupita Nyong’o has come forward and spoken about her experiences with Harvey Weinstein via an opinion piece written for The New York Times. While she admits to filing such memories of this “predator” back into the recesses of her mind, Nyong’o says she felt compelled to tell her story while following closely the women who have shared theirs in the past week. And, like those before her, it’s hard to read.
After meeting Weinstein in 2011 at an awards ceremony in Berlin, Nyong’o recounts that while she didn’t feel immediately at ease by the producer’s presence, she didn’t feel alarmed either. Shortly after, Weinstein invited Nyong’o to attend a screening of a film at his family home. But first a drink.
“It was a busy restaurant, and as soon as we sat down he ordered a vodka and diet soda for himself. I asked for a juice,” Nyong’o recalls. “Harvey was unimpressed with my choice and told the waiter to bring me a vodka and diet soda instead. I declined and said I wanted the juice. We went back and forth until finally he turned to the waiter and said, ‘Get her what I tell you to get her. I’m the one paying the bill.’”
After lunch, the actress went back to Weinstein’s home to watch the film. It was there, 15 minutes in, Weinstein invited Nyong’o into another room to “show me something”. Like the ladies before her – and after her – the producer said he wanted to give her a massage.
“I thought he was joking at first,” she said. “He was not. For the first time since I met him, I felt unsafe. I panicked a little and thought quickly to offer to give him one instead: It would allow me to be in control physically, to know exactly where his hands were at all times.”
“He agreed to this and lay on the bed,” she continued. “I began to massage his back to buy myself time to figure out how to extricate myself from this undesirable situation. Before long he said he wanted to take off his pants. I told him not to do that and informed him that it would make me extremely uncomfortable. He got up anyway to do so and I headed for the door, saying that I was not at all comfortable with that.”
A second incident occurred at a party after a screening in Tribeca. Nyong’o thought she was attending a party with a group of people but after she was greeted by a female assistant, the woman left and Nyong’o was left alone with Weinstein. He said “If you want to be an actress, then you have to be willing to do this sort of thing” gesturing the pair eat a meal in the bedroom together.
Nyong’o declined. As she left the “party”, she asked Weinstein if everything was OK between them. He replied “I don’t know about your career, but you’ll be fine.”
