Continuing to have her voice heard. Rose McGowan took the stage with Ronan Farrow at New York City’s 92Y in front of a packed audience and little did they know she was about to drop another truth bomb.
The Citizen Rose star, 44, continued her press tour to promote her new memoir, Brave, on Thursday, February 2, with the journalist who penned a Harvey Weinstein exposé for The New Yorker shortly after initial allegations were printed in The New York Times — and he was quick to credit her for helping start the #MeToo movement.
“Rose was telling this story to reporters much earlier than this was made public,” he told the audience, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
During their conversation, Farrow, who now knows the actress well, brought up another story of statutory rape that McGowan had privately made against another “prominent” man in Hollywood when she was just 15 years old.
However, when she was asked if she’s ready to come forward with his name, she responded: “In general? Sure. Right now at this moment? I’ve had a big day.”
She then recalled the first time she realized that the incident was perhaps assault.
“I didn’t process that until two weeks after the [New Yorker] story came out,” McGowan said. “I always thought of it just as a sexual experience even though I had not … I was in bed and I was like … I think that’s molestation? Is it?” she said of the incident that took place when the unnamed man took her home. She remembered, “[he] showed me a soft porn movie he had made for Showtime, under a different name. And then he had sex with me.”
As previously reported, McGowan first came forward with her allegations against the disgraced movie producer in October 2017, which helped kick-start the #MeToo movement. She has since spoken out on multiple occasions, including in an interview with Good Morning America on January 30.
“A lot of victims and survivors will say they detach and you really do,” she said on GMA. “You float up above your body because you’re trying to figure out … Literally when he grabbed me I was thinking, ‘Oh I hope I still have lipstick on for the [MTV] camera.’”
The New York Times reported in October 2017 that the actress and former studio head had reached a $100,000 settlement following the alleged incident that took place at the 1997 Sundance Film Festival. The payout was “not to be construed as an admission” of guilt by Weinstein, but intended to “avoid litigation and buy peace,” according to legal documents obtained by the Times.
Weinstein was let go from his own company in October 2017 after the allegations were revealed. Since then, more than 60 more women have come forward alleging Weinstein sexually harassed or assaulted them as well. The filmmaker has denied all allegations made against him.
