Salma Hayek has been one of the empowering voices behind the #MeToo movement since detailing the abuse she endured from Harvey Weinstein in a piece for The New York Times.
As we reported, the actress claimed Weinstein threatened to kill her after she refused his advances and was emotionally abusive during the filming of the 2002 biopic Frida.
It was an emotional piece for Hayek to scribe — so emotional, she almost didn’t write it!
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The Beatriz at Dinner star opened up to Oprah Winfrey about the conflict she felt sharing the story during Wednesday’s taping of SuperSoul Conversations. She said at the Apollo Theatre in New York City:
“[Harvey] told me he wanted to kill me. He said to [Frida director] Julie Taymor, ‘I am going to break the kneecaps of that ├óΓé¼╦£c-word.'”
The 51-year-old is one of the latest celebs to come forward with a story about the disgraced movie mogul’s unwanted behavior and bullish advances. Though sharing her truth was much harder than she anticipated.
Hayek admitted she initially backed out of penning the piece when The Times came to her months ago, because she broke down every time she tried to put pen to paper. She explained:
“[The Times] contacted me to be a part of the first story and already by this contact, there was all this turmoil and I started crying when they asked and I ended up not doing it. And then I felt ashamed that I was a coward. I was supporting women for two decades, and then I was a coward.”
Another reason for her hesitance was that Hayek felt her story wasn’t as impactful as those of the women who Weinstein was successful in allegedly assaulting.
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Noting how her “smart” thinking around the producer prevented her from suffering as much as his other victims, the actress said:
“[Weinstein] had a lot of respect for me. I earned it with blood, but he did. When the information about Harvey came out, I was ashamed I didn’t say anything. But I felt like my pain was so small compared to all the other stories.”
Sadly, it was past experiences of enduring sexual assault and harassment that prepared Hayek in handling Weinstein’s monstrous nature:
“[Weinstein] was not the first guy to do this to me. I was really smart around him. I handled it really well. And maybe that’s why he didn’t rape me.”
God. What an awful thing to have to ponder.
Now with women like Hayek speaking up, we like to think future generations will be more prepared to handle and shut down Weinstein-like abusers for good.
Keep taking back the power!
[Image via Brian To/KIKA/WENN.]
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