Uma Thurman accuses Harvey Weinstein of attacking her
NEW YORK -- Uma Thurman has accused disgraced film mogul Harvey Weinstein of attacking her in the 1990s. Speaking to The New York Times, Thurman said Weinstein attempted to force himself on her in a London hotel room.
"He pushed me down. He tried to shove himself on me. He tried to expose himself. He did all kinds of unpleasant things. But he didn't actually put his back into it and force me," Thurman told the Times. "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."
The 47-year-old actress has worked with Weinstein on numerous films such as 1994's "Pulp Fiction." In November, after dozens of women accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct, Thurman posted a message on Instagram hinting that she had her own story to tell.
Later, Thurman alleged, she arranged a meeting with Weinstein and said: "If you do what you did to me to other people you will lose your career, your reputation and your family, I promise you."
The Times article says Thurman's memory of the Weinstein encounter stops there, but it quotes a friend who was waiting downstairs as saying Thurman emerged from an elevator disheveled and shaking.
"Her eyes were crazy, and she was totally out of control," said the friend, Ilona Herman.
When Thurman was able to talk again, Herman said, she revealed that Weinstein, who was one of the most powerful men in Hollywood, had threatened to derail her career.
Weinstein has denied the accusation. His spokesperson has released a statement along with a photo of Thurman kissing Weinstein.
"Mr. Weinstein acknowledges making an awkward pass 25 years ago at Ms. Thurman in England after misreading her signals, after a flirtatious exchange in Paris for which he immediately apologized and deeply regrets," the statement reads. "However, her claims about being physically assaulted are untrue. And this is the first time we've heard those details."
Thurman, one of the stars of "Pulp Fiction," also was quoted as saying that just before shooting began on Tarantino's "Kill Bill: Vol. 1," which came out in 2003, she told Quentin Tarantino about Weinstein and he confronted the mogul, leading him to apologize.
But Thurman also described a harrowing onset episode on location in Mexico in which Tarantino ignored her expressed fears of driving a car that she had been warned might be faulty.
Tarantino persuaded her to do it, the article said, quoting him as saying, "Hit 40 miles per hour or your hair won't blow the right way and I'll make you do it again."
Video accompanying the article online shows Thurman struggling to control the car and crashing into a tree.
Thurman said in the article "that was a deathbox that I was in," the seat "wasn't screwed down properly" and the sand road "was not a straight road." She said that after the crash she left a hospital in a neck brace with damaged knees and a concussion.
Tarantino's representatives did not respond to the AP's request for comment. The Times also did not get a response, according to the article.
Weinstein, who has been accused by scores of women of sexual assault or harassment, was fired by the film company he founded with his brother and was expelled from Hollywood's movie academy. He has apologized for causing "a lot of pain" with "the way I've behaved with colleagues in the past" but has denied "any allegations of non-consensual sex."
