Lena Headey Says Refusing Harvey Weinstein's Alleged Advances 'Impacted a Decade' of Her Career
Lena Headey believes her rejection of Harvey Weinstein’s alleged sexual advances greatly impacted her acting career.
The Game of Thrones star, 45, previously opened up about two alleged encounters with the disgraced movie mogul: one in which she openly mocked him as he tried to make a move, and another in which he allegedly attempted to lure her up to his hotel room.
“After he was discovered to be a slime ball, on a grander scale than me just knowing it, I did start thinking, ‘F—, maybe because I didn’t shag him, that’s impacted a decade of my working life,’” Headey told British newspaper the Sunday Times. “Because I did two jobs for [Weinstein’s production company] Miramax before those incidents, and after that there was nothing.”
A rep for Weinstein denied any wrongdoing in a statement to PEOPLE.
“Lena Headey is a terrific actor with smart and resourceful agents, as her role for the past eight years on Game of Thrones confirms,” the statement read. “There was never anything other than a professional and respectful relationship between Ms. Headey and Mr. Weinstein, and any other assertion is absolutely untrue.”
Headey joined more than 100 other women, including actresses Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie and Ashley Judd, when she came forward with her allegations against Weinstein in October 2017.
The star, currently starring in the Dwayne Johnson-produced Fighting with My Family, wrote in a lengthy Twitter thread that Weinstein first came on to her at the Venice Film Festival in 2005, when she was promoting her Miramax film The Brothers Grimm.
Headey said Weinstein asked her to take a walk, and soon made a suggestive comment and gesture, which she laughed off.
The actress said she did not appear in another Miramax film after the encounter, and assumed she would no longer have to deal with Weinstein’s alleged come-ons after shutting him down.
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However, she claimed she ran into him several years later, and this time, he invited her up to his hotel room because he wanted to give her a script.
“We walked to the [elevator] and the energy shifted, my whole body went into high alert,” she wrote. “The [elevator] was going up and I said to Harvey, ‘I’m not interested in anything other than work, please don’t think I got in here with you for any other reason, nothing is going to happen.'”
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Headey said her stubbornness angered the producer, who allegedly dragged her to the room with his hand on her back.
When they got to the room, Headey claimed, Weinstein’s key card did not work, causing him to grow “really angry.”
“He walked me back to the [elevator], through the hotel to the valet, by grabbing and holding tightly to the back of my arm. He paid for my car and whispered in my ear, ‘Don’t tell anyone about this, not your manager, not your agent.’ I got into my car and I cried,” she wrote.
Weinstein, 66, has denied all allegations of nonconsensual sex.
He was indicted in May on multiple first- and third-degree rape charges in New York City, and pled not guilty in June. He remains free on a $1 million bail with GPS monitoring, according to the Los Angeles Times.
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In 2011, Headey began playing Cersei Lannister on the popular HBO fantasy series Game of Thrones, which will air its final season in April.
In her interview with the Sunday Times, Headey praised the show’s progression, and noted the positive influence its strong female characters have had on mainstream media.
“It does mirror what is going on [in the real world],” she said. “It’s moving forward. For me, the thought of younger actresses not having to deal with predatory idiots. … I mean, there are always chances, but having an easier path and it being about who is best for the role, rather than who you want to take for dinner, is exciting.”
