Harvey Weinstein accuser Ashley Judd talks playing herself in 'validating' new drama ‘She Said’

NEW YORK – Ashley Judd's new film is her most personal one yet.

The actress/activist plays a small but pivotal role as herself in the new drama "She Said" (in theaters Nov. 18), which details the exhaustive work of journalists to help expose Harvey Weinstein, a former Hollywood mogul and convicted sex offender. Judd, 54, was one of a handful of women who came forward to The New York Times in 2017 to accuse Weinstein of sexual misconduct.

Judd appears early in the film, as she tells reporter Jodi Kantor (Zoe Kazan) that she was sexually harassed by Weinstein while shooting 1997's "Kiss the Girls." Later, she emotionally agrees to be named in the NYT piece, helping set off a tidal wave of other survivors publicly sharing their stories.

Judd was greeted with a standing ovation at Thursday's world premiere of "She Said" at New York Film Festival, where she was joined by other Weinstein accusers, who stood and embraced each other after the screening.

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"First of all, I just want to acknowledge my sisters and thank them for their courage," Judd said during a post-screening Q&A, her voice cracking as she paid tribute to her late mom, country singer Naomi Judd, who died in April. "I just remember when I was speaking with my mother about this, she said, 'Oh, go get 'em, honey.' ... She was just enthralled by my audacity (to speak out), as I later heard from our friends."

Judd recalled how New York Times journalist Nicholas Kristof initially reached out to her about talking to Kantor, describing how "it was very easy for me to tell this story. ... It was very validating when someone finally wanted to listen and do something about it. And the film was the next step in that.

"It's so important to be in our truth and to have our righteousness in our story," she said. "So it was a really simple thing for me to do and I was very grateful for the opportunity."

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The actress was joined onstage by Kazan and Carey Mulligan, who said she was "terrified" to play journalist Megan Twohey. Together, Kantor and Twohey broke the story of Weinstein's decades of sexual abuse allegations, winning a Pulitzer Prize for their investigation. The film is adapted from their 2019 nonfiction book of the same name, which charts their process of locating and interviewing accusers such as Judd.

Judd and Kazan ended Thursday’s Q&A by praising the positive changes they've seen in Hollywood since the launch of the #MeToo movement. Those include intimacy coordinators on TV and movie sets, as well as sexual harassment hotlines where cast and crew members can report abuse.

On a more personal level, "I have reframed experiences that I have had to understand that they were in fact harassment and assault, when I had previously minimized them," Judd said. Kantor and Twohey's reporting, coupled with the work of #MeToo founder Tarana Burke, "has allowed women's consciousness to transform and to set boundaries and to claim autonomy."

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Ashley Judd talks cathartic role in Harvey Weinstein movie ‘She Said’