Rose McGowan has broken her silence about her former manager Jill Messick, who died by suicide on Wednesday, February 7.
The actress, 44, shared a photo of the sun on Instagram on Saturday, February 10, along with a message for Messick — whom she worked with in 1997 when McGowan claims that Harvey Weinstein sexually assaulted her.
“For Jill: May your family find some measure of solace during this pain,” McGowan captioned the photo. “That one man could cause so much damage is astounding but tragically true. The bad man did this to us both. May you find peace on the astral plane. May you find serenity with the stars.”
The producer’s family released a statement via The Hollywood Reporter on Thursday, February 8, claiming that Messick was “victimized” by McGowan’s allegations against of sexual misconduct against Weinstein. “Jill was victimized by our new culture of unlimited information sharing and a willingness to accept statement as fact,” the family wrote. “She became collateral damage in an already horrific story.”
“Many women have come out with allegations against Harvey Weinstein, including Rose McGowan, who has repeatedly spoken with the press, striking out against not only her alleged attacker but a great many others,” the statement continued. “One of them was Jill.”
As previously reported, Weinstein’s attorney, Ben Brafman, gave Us Weekly a statement in January denying the sexual assault allegations made by McGowan against his client, and he included quotes from Messick. McGowan claimed that she was sexually assaulted by the Hollywood producer in his hotel room after Messick set up the meeting with Weinstein. “In an email to Mr. Weinstein regarding the encounter, Jill Messick says the following, ‘When we met up the following day, she hesitantly told me of her own accord that during the meeting that night before she had gotten into a hot tub with Mr. Weinstein. She was very clear about the fact that getting into that hot tub was something that she did consensually and that in hindsight it was also something that she regretted having done,’” Brafman wrote at the time.
Messick’s family revealed that she suffered a manic episode five years ago due to her battle with bipolar disorder but was working on her mental health. “Seeing her name in headlines again and again, as part of one person’s attempt to gain more attention for her personal cause, along with Harvey’s desperate attempt to vindicate himself, was devastating for her,” the family wrote, adding that Weinstein made her email public without consent. “It broke Jill, who was just starting to get her life back on track.”
The family also stated that McGowan’s accusations against Messick were “ironic” since she was the first person who “stood up” for the actress at the time of the alleged assault.
Messick died by suicide on Wednesday in Los Angeles after battling depression for years. She was 50. The producer is survived by her two children, Jackson and Ava, their father, Kevin Messick, and her partner, Dan Schuck.
