Actress Rose McGowan tweeted on Thursday night that she had been raped by an unnamed studio boss.
Using the hashtag “#whywomendontreport,” McGowan said that she did not alert authorities because a criminal attorney told her she “would never win against the studio head.”
a (female) criminal attorney said because I'd done a sex scene in a film I would never win against the studio head. #WhyWomenDontReport
— Rose McGowan (@rosemcgowan) October 14, 2016
Though she did not identify the alleged rapist, McGowan said that she and her “ex” had sold a movie to him.
Because my ex sold our movie to my rapist for distribution #WhyWomenDontReport
— Rose McGowan (@rosemcgowan) October 14, 2016
“Because it’s been an open secret in Hollywood/media and they shamed me while adulating my rapist,” she wrote.
because it's been an open secret in Hollywood/Media & they shamed me while adulating my rapist. #WhyWomenDontReport
— Rose McGowan (@rosemcgowan) October 14, 2016
“It is time for some goddamned honesty in this world,” she added.
It is time for some goddamned honesty in this world.
— Rose McGowan (@rosemcgowan) October 14, 2016
McGowan has previously alluded to mistreatment during her career. In a Buzzfeed profile in 2015, she said that for a time she was “blacklisted” in the industry. She also spoke about the difficult experience of shooting “Grindhouse” with her ex-boyfriend Robert Rodriguez.
“I don’t like being humiliated, or somebody trying to make you humiliated,” she said about the shoot.
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In discussing the allegations against Bill Cosby, she also alluded to her own experience of sexual assault.
“You are taking part of someone’s soul. It’s happened to me,” she told Buzzfeed. “It alters the course of your life; it’s altered the course of my life.”
The author of the piece, Kate Aurthur, wrote that she “mentioned a rumored serial predator in the entertainment industry, a powerful figure who is often whispered about but never exposed.”
“I have faith,” McGowan told her. “There’s a lot of people that don’t deserve to be alive — put it that way. There’s a lot of people who also get the face and body they deserve. There’s a lot of destroyers, and there’s the collusion.”
She also tweeted in September, “And I know what rape is,” in response to blogger Perez Hilton questioning her use of the term “visual rape” to describe her experiences being photographed and videotaped on the red carpet.
And I know what rape is. You might not. You don't know what it's like to be consumed by cameras as a woman&dissected for pleasure of creeps
— Rose McGowan (@rosemcgowan) September 16, 2016