The Most Shocking Revelations from Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey’s She Said

When Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey published their New York Times expose on the decades of Harvey Weinstein's sexual misconduct and harassment in Hollywood, there was a seismic shift in culture. Women everywhere felt empowered to come forward with their own stories of abuse—and the Me Too movement was reignited. Two years and thousands of stories from women later, Kantor and Twohey have published She Said, their firsthand account of bringing Weinstein down. In it, they detail their reporting process—knocking on strangers' doors, texting with key sources like Gwyneth Paltrow, and fighting against Weinstein's team the whole way through. She Said also offers new revelations about Weinstein with previously undisclosed corporate records, emails, and text messages. Here, we've compiled some of the most shocking bombshells from their book—but their reflection on the earth-shattering investigation is worth reading in full. She Said is now available everywhere books are sold.

Gwyneth Paltrow played a pivotal role in bringing down Weinstein

Gwyneth Paltrow made a name for herself starring in Harvey Weinstein–backed films like Emma and Shakespeare in Love. While she's already spoken out about Weinstein's sexual misconduct, in She Said we learn what a crucial source Paltrow was for Twohey and Kantor's investigation. “Gwyneth Paltrow is one of Harvey’s biggest stars, and he had really kind of presented himself as kind of a godfather to her over the years,” Twohey said in an appearance on Today. “I think that many people will be surprised to discover that when so many other actresses were reluctant to get on the phone and scared to tell the truth about what they had experienced at his hands, that Gwyneth was actually one of the first people to get on the phone, and that she was determined to help this investigation—even when Harvey Weinstein showed up to a party at her house early and she was sort of forced to hide in the bathroom.” It was after that incident that she reached out to Twohey and Kantor asking what to do. “I think Harvey Weinstein was extremely aware and extremely scared of what the implications would be if his biggest star actually ended up going on the record,” Twohey added.

Lisa Bloom had a plan to make Weinstein a hero

In December 2016, famed victims’-rights attorney Lisa Bloom sent Weinstein a memo. In it, Bloom, who has represented accusers of Bill Cosby, Bill O’Reilly, Jeffrey Epstein, and Donald Trump, detailed a plan to help rehabilitate Weinstein’s image. She suggested that they go after actress Rose McGowan and call her a “pathological liar.” On McGowan, Bloom wrote, “Clearly she must be stopped in her ridiculous, defamatory attacks on you.” She also added, “She is dangerous.” Other ideas included starting a Weinstein foundation focusing on gender equality in film, and issuing a pre-emptive interview talking about women’s issues. You can read the full memo, published by journalist Yashar Ali on Twitter, here.

Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner connected them to Hollywood

Twohey and Kantor were Hollywood novices, and needed help getting in touch with actresses connected to Weinstein. While at first they were skeptical about reaching out to Dunham (because they were worried she might not be discreet), she and her former producing partner became great resources in the investigation. Dunham and Konner became a “two-woman celebrity switchboard,” and ultimately led them to Paltrow.

It took one line for Kantor and Twohey to earn survivors’ trust

Getting women like Ashley Judd and other actresses to participate in their investigation took an enormous amount of effort and trust building. But Kantor and Twohey returned to the same line each time they approached a new survivor. “Even if we managed to get Ashley Judd or Gwyneth Paltrow on the phone, which we did, we had to figure out how to say in that first minute: Here’s an argument for trusting us, here’s an argument for telling us this really private story,” Kantor said in a Today appearance. Kantor says she and Twohey kept coming back to a line: “We can’t change what happened to you in the past, but if we work together we may be able to take this in some sort of constructive direction.”

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