WESTPORT, CONNECTICUT — Wow. Even Lupita Nyong’o has felt the distasteful advance of Harvey Weinstein. In a tell-all post, she describes her encounters with the former executive.
It almost seems like there’s no one Weinstein hasn’t approached. Story after story unfolds as more women feel compelled to share their sides of horrifying confrontations with Harvey.
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Via New York Times, Lupita Nyong’o submitted her personal story in hopes of helping sexual harassment and assault victims realize they aren’t alone.
“I had felt very much alone when these things happened, and I had blamed myself for a lot of it, quite like many of the other women who have shared their stories. But now that this is being discussed openly, I have not been able to avoid the memories resurfacing. I have felt sick in the pit of my stomach.”
According to Lupita, after meeting Weinstein in Berlin, she was invited to his home in Westport. Supposedly, he said she’d be attending a private film screening.
BUT FIRST
Harvey wanted the two of them to have a private lunch together at a nearby restaurant.
Lupita elaborates as follows.
“I did not think much of this. It was a busy restaurant, and as soon as we sat down he ordered a vodka and diet soda for himself. I asked for a juice.”
According to Nyong’o, Harvey was “unimpressed” with her beverage choice. He told the waiter to bring her vodka and soda anyway.
“I declined and said I wanted the juice. We went back and forth until finally he turned to the waiter and said, ‘Get her what I tell you to get her. I’m the one paying the bill.’ I smiled and remained silent.”
Wow!
WEINSTEIN HAD ONLY JUST BEGUN
Lupita says the waiter returned with the beverages Harvey ordered for her. He sat them beside her water. However, she only drank the water.
He, then, demanded that she drink the alcohol and soda. She said she wouldn’t. Of course, he asked “why not?” She responded as follows.
“Because I don’t like vodka, and I don’t like diet soda, and I don’t like them together.”
So, Harvey called her stubborn and gave up his alcohol attempt.
https://twitter.com/dchas7/status/921232647216435200
Yet, that was just the start of things to come.
THE ‘TOUR’
Once Nyong’o got to Weinstein’s house, she met his family. Afterward, he took her on a brief tour of the place. And eventually, he got everyone together in the screening room to watch his recent film.
But, ah ha. There’s deception afoot.
According to Lupita, approximately 15 minutes into it, Harvey came back to the screening room while she was watching the movie.
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I am sad that our own star Lupita Nyong'o was also sexually harrassed by Harvey Weinstein— Kanyi Joseph (@kanyijoseph1) October 20, 2017
He asked her to follow him.
At first, she protested — saying she’d rather finish the movie first. However, she says he treated her almost like one of his children and demanded she follow him.
So, in order to not make a scene, she says she complied.
INTO HIS BEDROOM
Here’s where things got scary-strange. Lupita notes that, at this point, Harvey Weinstein told her he wanted to give her a massage!
“I thought he was joking at first. He was not. For the first time since I met him, I felt unsafe. I panicked a little and thought quickly to offer to give him one instead: It would allow me to be in control physically, to know exactly where his hands were at all times.”
She mentions that Harvey agreed and laid on the bed. According to her writings, Lupita started massaging his back in order to buy herself “time to figure out how to extricate [herself] from [the] undesirable situation,” she explains.
Yet and still, Weinstein allegedly wanted to take things to a stranger level. According to Lupita, he told her that he wanted to remove his pants.
And before she could even process what he had said, he was up and getting ready to strip.
Nyong’o immediately headed for the door and told Harvey she was uncomfortable with the situation.
“If we’re not going to watch the film, I really should head back to school,” Lupita told him.
She says he began to put on his shirt, all while calling her “stubborn.” Lupita states that she laughed nervously while agreeing.
https://twitter.com/TheCelebrityCo/status/921228020630806528
Even more weird, she figured out — after the fact — that he possibly placed everyone in the screening room for that purpose…since it’s soundproof.
So, she left.
THAT WAS THE FIRST ENCOUNTER; THERE WAS ANOTHER
Lupita Nyong’o had locked in her mind she would not accept anymore “Harvey Weinstein” private invitations.
However, given his affluence in the entertainment industry, she still wasn’t exactly burning bridges.
She eventually invited him to one of her productions at Yale University. Harvey agreed to show. But when it was time to honor his commitment, he flaked.
Nevertheless, as you might guess, he sent Lupita another invitation to join him.
This time though, she was welcome to bring whomever as company.
Nyong’o asked two male friends to accompany her — as she should’ve.
Once they arrived, she said Harvey Weinstein appeared as a totally different person.
“The talk was shop the whole time and Harvey held court with ease. He was charming and funny once more, and I felt confused about the discomfort I had previously experienced. I looked at the actress who I was informed had just worked with him on a project, searching her face for any sort of indication that she too had been made to feel uncomfortable by this powerful man, but of course I saw nothing.”
His behavior had her second-guessing the whole “massage” experience. Like, maybe she misunderstood him somewhere along the lines.
“I left feeling that perhaps he had learned my boundaries and was going to respect them,” Lupita states.
NOPE!
A few months later, Harvey sends for Lupita once more — according to her story via New York Times.
She doesn’t realize it, but he’s giving it another try.
Once there, she was greeted by a female assistant. When Lupita questioned the whereabouts of everyone else, she was informed it would just be her and Weinstein. However, the assistant was going to sit with Nyong’o until Harvey arrived.
“She seemed on edge, but I could only imagine how stressful it was to work for a man who had so much going on,” Lupita states.
She says the assistant “immediately” disappeared once Weinstein arrived.
Getting right to it, they ordered drinks and starters.
New post (Lupita Nyong’o Exposes Harvey Weinstein For Coming On To Her) has been published on urbannews – https://t.co/C4Yszq1jp3 pic.twitter.com/aeRMv8sVfX
— Urban News Online (@1urbannews) October 20, 2017
Lupita wisely went the non-alcoholic route, and Harvey was upset about it. She says he wasn’t wasting time that go-round. He mentioned as follows.
“Let’s cut to the chase. I have a private room upstairs where we can have the rest of our meal.”
Nyong’o says she was totally shocked and declined the offer. After going back and forth about it, Harvey said: “Then I guess we are two ships passing in the night.”
Then, he made off-putting comments regarding her future career, or possibly the lack thereof.
After she left, she said she never heard back from him until she ran into him at the 12 Years a Slave screening. He made it his point to find her at the after-party.
According to Lupita, he couldn’t believe how fast she rose to her career position.
He admitted to treating her badly in the past and said he was ashamed. He also promised to respect her going forward. Yet, Lupita was already done.
“I said thank you and left it at that. But I made a quiet promise to myself to never ever work with Harvey Weinstein.”
She said he tried various times to get her on his projects thereafter. However, that’s just not something she’s trying to do at this point in her life and career.
“Now that we are speaking, let us never shut up about this kind of thing. I speak up to make certain that this is not the kind of misconduct that deserves a second chance. I speak up to contribute to the end of the conspiracy of silence.”
Let us know your thoughts about Lupita Nyong’o’s experience. If you have any comments, feel free to share them via our Facebook page.
[Featured Photo via Twitter]
