Uma Thurman joins actresses accusing Weinstein of misconduct

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Photo by david_shankbone
Actress Uma Thurman, who is indelibly linked to Harvey Weinstein’s Miramax studio thanks to her iconic roles in “Pulp Fiction” and “Kill Bill,” has broken her silence about the disgraced Hollywood mogul, accusing him of attacking her and threatening her career.

Dozens of Hollywood women -– including Ashley Judd, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Beckinsale and Salma Hayek — have accused Weinstein of acts ranging from sexual assault to rape.

The scandal has touched off a deluge of allegations bringing down powerful men in entertainment, politics and the media, and forced many industries to re-examine workplace harassment policies.

Thurman, 47, told The New York Times in an interview published Saturday of two incidents in London that took place after the release of 1994’s “Pulp Fiction.”

They followed an uncomfortable episode in a Paris hotel in which Thurman said Weinstein was dressed in a bathrobe and led her into a steam room during a meeting about a script.

In the first “attack,” which took place in Weinstein’s suite at London’s Savoy Hotel, “he pushed me down. He tried to shove himself on me. He tried to expose himself. He did all kinds of unpleasant things,” she said.

“But he didn’t actually put his back into it and force me. You’re like an animal wriggling away, like a lizard. I was doing anything I could to get the train back on the track. My track. Not his track.”

A statement from Weinstein’s publicist read: “Mr. Weinstein acknowledges making a pass at Ms. Thurman in England after misreading her signals in Paris. He immediately apologized.”

Thurman said she took a friend with her to confront Weinstein not long after. But his assistants pressured her to meet him alone in his room.

Thurman said she told Weinstein: “If you do what you did to me to other people you will lose your career, your reputation and your family, I promise you.”

Her memory of the incident stops there, the Times reported.

Weinstein told the paper that “she very well could have said this.”

Thurman’s friend Ilona Herman, who is Robert De Niro’s longtime makeup artist, recalled that the actress came out of the one-on-one meeting “very disheveled and so upset and had this blank look.”

“She was really shaking,” Herman said, adding that Thurman told her that Weinstein had threatened to end her career.

Weinstein denied doing so and called Thurman “a brilliant actress.” He noted they had “a flirtatious and fun working relationship” until the Paris incident. (AFP)