Why did Brad Pitt keep working with Harvey Weinstein?
BRAD Pitt reportedly confronted Harvey Weinstein after he sexually harassed his then-girlfriend Gwyneth Paltrow. But then they made two movies together.
IT’S been a week of shocking revelations in Hollywood.
For days, more and more women have come forward with their disturbing tales of sexual harassment at the hands of movie mogul Harvey Weinstein.
Among them was Angelina Jolie and Gwyneth Paltrow.
Paltrow claims in the mid ’90s, when she was just 22, she experienced an unwanted come-on from Weinstein, which left her feeling “petrified”.
In 1998, Jolie reportedly had a similar experience with the studio executive, and vowed to never work with him again.
Other than both being Hollywood stars and suffering harassment at the hands of Weinstein, Paltrow and Jolie shared another thing in common: their relationships with Brad Pitt.
Pitt dated Paltrow from 1994-1997, and Jolie from 2005-2016.
Paltrow revealed to The New York Times that she’d confided in her then-boyfriend about her Weinstein encounter, and Pitt had been so furious he’d confronted him about it.
“Brad threatened Harvey. He got right in his face, poked him in the chest, and said, ‘You will not ever do this to Gwyneth ever again,’” a source told People magazine.
Given Pitt’s relatively ‘rookie’ status in Hollywood at the time, he’s been widely praised since the information came to light. It would have taken plenty of courage to go up against one of the industry’s most powerful men.
But equally, the exposé has raised some questions: if Pitt was so incensed by Weinstein’s behaviour, why then did he sign on to work with him on two movies in the years afterwards?
The pair were both involved in Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds in 2009, and again for thriller Killing Them Softly in 2012 even though, as Pitt’s representative confirmed to The New York Times, he had known about what happened to Paltrow.
Meanwhile, a number of high-profile men have been quick to strongly condemn Weinstein’s actions and insist they had no idea of his alleged history of assaulting and harassing women — including Ben Affleck.
The actor released a lengthy statement expressing his shock at the situation, but found himself in the hot seat as Rose McGowan flipped his words around and called him a liar.
In a series of tweets, the actress — who was allegedly assaulted by Weinstein in 1997 — told Affleck to “f**k off”.
“’Goddamnit! I told him to stop doing that’ you said that to my face,” she wrote to him on Twitter.
“The press conf (sic) I was made to go to after assault. You lie.”