Asia Argento threatens to sue Rose McGowan over her underage sex assault accusations

Asia Argento. Photo / Getty

Asia Argento has doubled down on her rebuke of her former comrade Rose McGowan and threatened to sue her over her claim that underage sexual assault accusations against Argento are true.

Tweeting on Monday morning, Argento wrote: 'Dear Rose McGowan, It is with genuine regret that I am giving you 24 hours to retract and apologise for the horrendous lies made against me in your statement of August 27th according to DailyMail.

'If you fail to address this libel I will have no option other than to take immediate legal action.'

The August 27th 'statement' she was referring to was McGowan's claim that Argento did have sex with child star Jimmy Bennett in 2013 when he was just 17.

McGowan made the statement after watching Argento publicly deny that she had ever slept with him following an explosive New York Times article.

Asia Argento and Rose McGowan. Photo / Getty

She and her lover, gender non-conforming model Rain Dove, both spoke out to say Argento had admitted to them that she'd slept with Bennett and they produced text messages which they said proved it.

Argento now claims that they did have sex but that she was the victim of an attack launched by the then teenager.

The saga began when it was revealed that Argento's late boyfriend Anthony Bourdain had agreed to pay Bennett $380,000 in hush money to get him to drop a lawsuit against the Italian actress which sought damages for the alleged attack.

Asia Argento and Harvey Weinstein during 2004 Cannes Film Festival. Photo / Getty

Argento's threat on Monday is the latest depth in the feud between her and McGowan.

The pair were at one time the loudest voices in the #MeToo movement. Both say they were raped by Harvey Weinstein in the late 1990s.