Harvey Weinstein indicted on rape and criminal sex act charges. / AP
Warning: Graphic details.
Lily Allen opens up about fame, family and her lifelong connection to disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein in a revealing chat with Andrew Denton airing on Seven's Interview tonight.
Speaking to the chat show host via satellite from London, singer Allen, whose newly released fourth album No Shame has scored rave reviews, revealed that she had known Weinstein since she was "a baby" due to her mother Alison Owen's job as a film producer.
Lily Allen and her mum Alison Owen at the EE British Academy Film Awards dinner 2014, at the Grosvenor House Hotel, London. Photo / Getty Images
While Allen said she "never suspected anything about him" and described him as a "bit of an odd character," she recounted an incident that occurred between Weinstein and her mother that she apparently only learned about as the avalanche of sexual misconduct allegations against the movie producer surfaced last year.
"My mum's worked quite closely with Harvey, she's done several films with him, and once they were looking at working with a particular director, Jane Campion. She'd just done a film with Meg Ryan called In the Cut, and it was the first time Meg had ever done nudity," Allen recalled.
Weinstein and Owen sat down to watch the director's racy latest offering.
Meg Ryan (left) caused a stir with the erotic thriller In the Cut. Photo / News Limited
"It was just my mum and Harvey in a screening room, and just when Meg Ryan was getting her clothes off she heard this grunting noise from behind her. It was Harvey pleasuring himself, in a dark room, with my mum sitting in front of him," she revealed.
Confusingly, Allen said her mother was in her mid-20s at the time of the incident — In the Cut was released in 2003, when Allen's mother was 42 years old.
"She kept working with him. I guess that goes to show how powerful he was, that she didn't feel like she could say anything."
Harvey Weinstein appears for a court appearance in New York. Photo / AP
Allen said she'd experienced her own 'Me Too moments' during her time in the entertainment industry: "There's a spectrum of behaviour and inappropriateness, and I think I've experienced pretty much all of it," she revealed.
Elsewhere in the interview, Allen speaks candidly about how her daughters — Marnie, 5 and Ethel, 6 — are coming to grips with the fact they have a famous mum.
"I think they're just trying to figure out the currency of it. I was in the market at the end of our road the other week and Ethel just suddenly shouted out, 'LILY ALLEN!' Everyone turned around and she was just like, 'What do I do with this? How can I turn this into sweets?'" she laughed.
