Anthony Bourdain Supports Girlfriend Asia Argento Amid Harvey Weinstein Rape Accusation: 'I Am Proud to Know You'

As the new bombshell allegations that Harvey Weinstein sexually assaulted multiple women have come to light, Anthony Bourdain has unwavering support for his girlfriend, Italian actress Asia Argento, who is among the alleged victims.

“I am proud and honored to know you,” Bourdain tweeted to Argento on Tuesday morning. “You just did the hardest thing in the world.”

“Can we use the word ‘rapist’ now? #Weinstein,” he later posted.

In a New Yorker article released Tuesday morning, Argento, 42, claims that Weinstein sexually assaulted her in 1997, forcibly performing oral sex on her. She alleges that she was invited to what was supposed to be a Miramax party at a hotel in France, but arrived to find Weinstein alone in his hotel room. “He asks me to give a massage. I was, like, ‘Look man, I am no f—–g fool,’ ” Argento told writer Ronan Farrow of her experience. “But, looking back, I am a f—–g fool. And I am still trying to come to grips with what happened.” She later added: “It wouldn’t stop. It was a nightmare.”

Argento also acknowledged that she eventually had a consensual relationship with Weinstein in the five years following the incident, saying: “He made it sound like he was my friend and he really appreciated me.”

The actress said she has been hesitant to come forward due to the studio executive’s power in the industry. “I know he has crushed a lot of people before,” she said. “That’s why this story—in my case, it’s twenty years old, some of them are older—has never come out.”

In response to the lengthy allegations issued against Weinstein in the piece, a spokesperson for Weinstein said, “Any allegations of non-consensual sex are unequivocally denied by Mr. Weinstein.”

Bourdain has been swift and vocal in condemning Weinstein since the initial string of sexual harassment claims against the producer came out last Thursday in the New York Times. At the New York City premiere of his new documentary Wasted! on the same evening, the chef toasted to “the end of Weinstein’s reign of terror,” adding, “F— him.”

In the following days, Bourdain has been calling out celebrities who have been silent about or defended Weinstein, including Matt Damon (who has yet to release a statement) and designer Donna Karan (who claimed that Weinstein’s victims may have been “asking for it” —though she later apologized and said her words were taken “out of context.”)

“How many seventeen year olds have you dressed like they are, in your words, ‘asking for it’?,” he tweeted at Karan’s fashion brand DKNY on Tuesday morning along with a photo of one of their ads.

“Looking forward to ‘THE BOURNE APOLOGY’ in which Jason fights off attempts to expose a pimp,” he later posted in reference to Damon’s hit movie series.

Argento also posted a deleted scene from the 1999 movie Scarlet Diva, which she wrote and directed, that features a young actress being sexually assaulted by an executive who promises her career help. She claimed that others in the industry recognized that the character was based on Weinstein. “People would ask me about him because of the scene in the movie,” she told The New Yorker. Later, she claims, Weinstein responded to the depiction, saying: “Ha, ha, very funny,” and adding that he was “sorry for whatever happened.”

Bourdain and Argento went public with their relationship in February. “[Asia] has spent a lifetime in film since she was 9 years old. She comes from generations of filmmakers on both sides of the family,” the 61-year-old Parts Unknown host recently told PEOPLE. “She’s a really accomplished director and writer along with being a longtime actress and a real sponge for culture, music, literature. So she’s enormously helpful and inspiring.”