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Lupita Nyong’o is the latest star to come forward with sexual harassment allegations against mogul Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein. In an op-ed for The New York Times, Nyong’o details multiple encounters with the producer in which he alluded to or directly stated that having sex with him would help forward the young actress’ career.
Nyong’o first met Weinstein in 2011 while she was still a student at the Yale School of Drama. While initially intimidated of the producer because of his status, she “found him to be very authoritative and direct, but also charming” and didn’t feel that he was sinister in any way. However, shortly after their first meeting, Weinstein invited Nyong’o to his home in Connecticut, where he asked to give her a massage.
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… Before long he said he wanted to take off his pants. I told him not to do that and informed him that it would make me extremely uncomfortable.
Before Weinstein could do take off his pants, Nyong’o headed for the door, laughing when the producer mentioned how stubborn she was in order to extricate herself safely from the situation.
Like many women, Nyong’o “didn’t quite know how to process the massage incident.” She rationalized it by reasoning that “it had been inappropriate and uncalled-for, but not overtly sexual.” She told herself that in Hollywood “the intimate is often professional and so the lines are blurred.” The actress was writing the incident off as an awkward experience, but regardless, she “would not be accepting any more visits to private spaces with Harvey Weinstein.”
Months later, Weinstien invited Nyong’o to a staged reading of his Broadway show and a post-reading dinner, and the actress consciously decided to bring two male friends with her. As in their first encounter, Weinstein was “charming and funny once more,” and the producer even charmed her friends. “I left feeling that perhaps he had learned my boundaries and was going to respect them,” Nyong’o writes.
A few months later, Weinstein invited the actress to dinner at The Tribeca Grill, the restaurant in his office building. Before they even received their food, the producer propositioned her:
“Let’s cut to the chase. I have a private room upstairs where we can have the rest of our meal.” I was stunned. I told him I preferred to eat in the restaurant. He told me not to be so naïve. If I wanted to be an actress, then I had to be willing to do this sort of thing. He said he had dated Famous Actress X and Y and look where that had gotten them.
Nyong’o declined as politely as possible, telling Weinstein that she must pass because she “would not be able to sleep at night” if she did what he was asking. The producer immediately told the actress that they were done there, giving her money for a cab and sending her on her way.
Years after Nyong’o’s experience at The Tribeca Grill, she was offered a part in a Weinstein Company film. The then-Oscar winning actress turned down the role, but Weinstein “would not take no for an answer.” After much back and forth, Weinstein let up, and Nyong’o has not had a personal experience with him since.
Nyongo’s story may be long and complicated, but her experience perfectly represents why women in the industry—or in any industry—are hesitant to speak out about their experiences with sexual harassment and assault. “I did not know that there was a world in which anybody would care about my experience with him,” the actress writes. “[Weinstein] was one of the first people I met in the industry, and he told me, “This is the way it is… I did not know that things could change. I did not know that anybody wanted things to change.”
Like many women in the industry who have spoken out against their abusers, Nyong’o concludes with the hope that a community of consciousness will develop in Hollywood. “I hope we are in a pivotal moment where a sisterhood — and brotherhood of allies — is being formed in our industry,” she writes. The actress encourages women to continue speaking out to bring these ‘open secrets’ to light, once and for all.
“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,” she pleads.
