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Romola Garai says she felt 'violated' after alleged encounter with Harvey Weinstein

Actress is latest to speak out with claim of sexual misconduct by the Hollywood mogul

Roisin O'Connor
Tuesday 10 October 2017 09:28 BST
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Romola Garai claims she was 'humiliated' during an audition with Weinstein at the Savoy Hotel
Romola Garai claims she was 'humiliated' during an audition with Weinstein at the Savoy Hotel

Actress Romola Garai has claimed that she had a "humiliating" encounter with Harvey Weinstein aged 18, where he allegedly auditioned her while wearing just a dressing gown.

The star of Atonement is the latest to come forward with claims of sexual misconduct against the Hollywood mogul.

Garai told the Guardian that the alleged encounter took place at the Savoy Hotel in London and called it an "abuse of power".

"Like every other woman in the industry, I've had an 'audition' with Harvey Weinstein, where I'd actually already had the audition but you had to be personally approved by him," she said.

"So I had to go to his hotel room in the Savoy, and he answered the door in his bathrobe. I was only 18. I felt violated by it, it has stayed very clearly in my memory."

She added that the alleged incident was a norm for Weinstein in his approach to women in the film industry.

"The point was that he could get a young woman to do that, that I didn't have a choice, that it was humiliating for me and that he had the power. It was an abuse of power."

New accuser says Harvey Weinstein tried to masturbate in front of her at Sundance

The scandal over Weinstein's alleged treatment of women in Hollywood emerged in an exclusive report by the New York Times last week.

It was claimed that the film mogul - one of the most powerful people in Hollywood - had been sexual harassing women for almost three decades.

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Weinstein took a leave of absence from his company following the report, but was fired by the board of executives on Sunday night, "effective immediately", a spokesperson said.

Most recently it has emerged that he apparently sent a desperate email to Hollywood executives, pleading with them to oppose his being fired.

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