Angelina Jolie recently opened up about her life experiences during an interview with The Guardian while promoting her new book Know Your Rights and Claim Them: A Guide for Youth.
During The Guardian interview, however, Jolie was also asked about her experience of being disrespected in Hollywood. “Well, no surprise, Harvey Weinstein. I worked with him when I was young,” she replied.
Angelina was apparently 21 years old when she acted in Playing by Heart, the 1988-movie whose executive producer was Weinstein, the filmmaker who was accused by numerous women of sexual assault and misconduct in 2017. Following the multiple accusations, Weinstein was fired by his own company. Weinstein is currently in prison after a New York jury convicted him for the rape and sexual assault of two women.
Incidentally, Angelina had even previously said, in an article in The New York Times, that she had had a ‘bad experience’.
“If you get yourself out of the room, you think he attempted but didn’t, right? The truth is that the attempt and the experience of the attempt is an assault,” the Oscar-winning actor said in the new interview. “It was beyond a pass. It was something I had to escape. I stayed away and warned people about him. I remember telling Jonny (Lee Miller), my first husband, who was great about it, to spread the word to other guys — don’t let girls go alone with him,” she added.
The actress revealed that she had declined to do a Martin Scorsese project in 2004 because Weinstein was involved in it. “I was asked to do The Aviator, but I said no because he was involved. I never associated or worked with him again. It was hard for me when Brad did,” she said.
Angelina and Brad had started dating soon after they worked on the 2005 movie Mr and Mrs Smith. The couple got married in 2014 although in 2016, Angelina filed for divorce, which was finalized in 2019.
In The Guardian interview, Angelina alleged that Pitt approached Weinstein, against her wishes, to produce his 2012 film Killing Them Softly. The Weinstein Company ended up distributing the film.
“We fought about it. Of course it hurt,” the actress added.
