Former Miramax Exec Recalls Her Time Working for Harvey Weinstein
A former Miramax executive says her time working at the company formerly steered by Harvey Weinstein can only be described as “a madhouse.”
Ivana Lowell was the vice president of the book division at Miramax Films in the 90s.
She says that Weinstein hired her for the role after spotting her at a restaurant.
“He waddled over," she told Inside Edition. "He was very disheveled — huge — he was wearing a dirty black T-shirt, and I thought, 'Ugh.'”
She says she jumped at the chance to work in the movies, but something truly bizarre happened on her very first day.
“He shut the door, went behind his desk and he said, ‘Do you like having oral sex?’ and I was so shocked and so gobsmacked by such a question," she recalled. "He must be joking."
She said that it was “common” to be called to a meeting in his hotel room at 2 a.m., when the movie mogul would open his door in a bathrobe.
In another incident, Lowell claims Weinstein showed up at her apartment late at night and asked for a massage from Lowell and her roommate.
“He laid down on the bed and started to undress and he said, ‘which one of you lovely ladies is gonna give Harvey a nice massage?’” she recalled. “He was undressing in front of us.
Lowell actually dated Harvey’s brother, Bob Weinstein.
“He once asked me, ‘Did you ever sleep with my brother?’ I said, ‘No, but not for the want of aggressively trying and all the other women...,’ and Bob cut me off [and said], ‘No, I don’t want to know’," she said.
Read: Woman Raped by Neighbor, Who Then Offered to Do Yard Work: Cops
Harvey Weinstein's career in the movies appears to be coming to an end. Bob Weinstein and the three remaining directors of The Weinstein Company are holding an emergency meeting behind closed doors at their offices in downtown Manhattan to decide the fate of the company.
Lowell actually wrote about Weinstein's bizarre behavior seven years ago in her book, Why Not Say What Happened? A Memoir, but no one paid much attention.
She said he called her up screaming, "You gotta pull the book or I’m going to sue you" after the book came out, but never did.
Lowell says that's because "it was true."
