Actress Julia Ormond takes on Hollywood over Harvey Weinstein sexual assault

Golden Globe winner Julia Ormond is taking on Hollywood’s big guns over their “enabling” of sexual predator Harvey Weinstein.

Harvey Weinstein. Picture: AFP

British actress Julia Ormond is suing Harvey Weinstein for sexual battery in a lawsuit describing her as “yet another victim of his depravity”.

Ormond, who won a Golden Globe in 2010 for her performance in Temple Grandin, has also taken aim at Hollywood bigwigs Disney, CAA and Miramax who she is suing over an alleged sexual assault by Weinstein in 1995.

While Ormond doesn’t name her then-agents Bryan Lourd and Kevin Huvane or former Disney executives Jeffery Katzenberg and Michael Eisner in the filing made in New York State Supreme Court, the suit does reference the quartet numerous times.

Julia Ormond, with her Golden Globe in 2010, is taking on Hollywood over Harvey Weinstein. Picture: Getty Images/AFP

While Weinstein has been named as the defendant in numerous sexual assault lawsuits since The New York Times and New Yorker uncovered his alleged abuse towards dozens of women in the entertainment industry in 2017, it is rare for business partners that profited from Weinstein’s work to be named as defendants for supposedly enabling his behaviour.

Claiming the jailed Weinstein forced himself upon her for oral sex, Ormand alleges that CAA (which represents some of Hollywood’s biggest names including Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg, Reese Witherspoon and Ellen DeGeneres) and Disney, the latter of which owned Weinstein’s Miramax, knew of the Oscar-winning producer’s predatory behaviour and did nothing to protect her.

Harvey Weinstein is currently jailed after being found guilty of sexual assault. Picture: Getty Images/AFP

Ormond told Variety that she has chosen to speak out because she wants to help make Hollywood and other workplaces safer from sexual predators.

“I am coming forward with my story now publicly because I feel as if we still need systemic change, and I feel that we need accountability from enablers, in order to get there,” Ormond said.

“I feel that this is what happened with me.”

Ormand claimed in the suit that her representatives at CAA discouraged her from taking legal action at the time against Weinstein to avoid upsetting him.

The suit also claims Weinstein retaliated and Miramax ended Ormond’s contract stopping commitments to projects in development, and that CAA placed her with a younger, inexperienced agent, and no longer was working on her behalf, significantly lessening and changing their representation of her.

Julia Ormond and Australian actress Angourie Rice in a scene from the movie Ladies in Black. Picture: Sony Pictures

“After living for decades with the painful memories of my experiences at the hands of Harvey Weinstein, I am humbled and grateful to all those who have risked speaking out,” Ormand said in a statement from her lawyers.

“Their courage and the Adult Survivors Act has provided me a window of opportunity and way to shed light on how powerful people and institutions like my talent agents at CAA, Miramax and Disney enabled and provided cover for Weinstein to assault me and countless others. I seek a level of personal closure by holding them accountable to acknowledge their part and the depth of its harms and hope that all of our increased understanding will lead to further protections for all of us at work.”

Weinstein — who has been convicted of rape in two jurisdictions, and has been accused by more than 100 women over the course of decades — denies Ormond’s allegations.

“Harvey Weinstein categorically denies the allegations made against him by Julia Ormond and he is prepared to vehemently defend himself,” Weinstein’s lawyer said in a statement.

“This is yet another example of a complaint filed against Mr. Weinstein after the passing of decades, and he is confident that the evidence will not support Ms. Ormond’s claims.”

Originally published as Actress Julia Ormond takes on Hollywood over Harvey Weinstein sexual assault