Uma Thurman says Harvey Weinstein tried to expose himself and forced her down to have sex.
Uma Thurman says Harvey Weinstein tried to expose himself and forced her down to have sex.
Uma Thurman has finally spoken out against Harvey Weinstein after hinting for months that she was one of the movie mogul's alleged victims.
In an article in The New York Times on Saturday, Thurman, 47, describes several incidents in which Weinstein forced himself on her in a London hotel room on one occasion and that he led her into a steam room in Paris in another incident but backed away when she asked him what he was doing.
She says the most aggressive encounter, which took place at London's Savoy Hotel some time between 1994 and 2002, felt like 'a bat to the head'.
'It was such a bat to the head. He pushed me down. He tried to shove himself on me.
'He tried to expose himself. He did all kinds of unpleasant things. But he didn't actually put his back into it and force me.
'You're like an animal wriggling away, like a lizard. I was doing anything I could to get the train back on the track. My track. Not his track,' she said.
Within hours of her claims becoming public, British police sources said they had launched investigations into two additional sexual assaults Weinstein is accused of.
It is not known if hers is one of the new claims they are probing.
Weinstein admitted the Paris incident but told DailyMail.com the claims he had physically assaulted her were untrue.
Dispute with Tarantino
On Saturday, Thurman also described a years-long dispute she has had with Quentin Tarantino, with whom she formed one of the most iconic actor/director duos, over an accidental car crash which happened when they were filming Kill Bill in 2002.
She alleges that Tarantino pressured her into performing a driving stunt in an unsafe care which she was reluctant to take the wheel of. She crashed while filming and injured her neck as a result.
Thurman has been trying for years to obtain raw footage of the crash from Miramax but they have always refused.
Tarantino eventually 'atoned' and gave it to her recently, and she is now trying to hold Miramax accountable for it.
Tarantino's representatives did not respond to DailyMail.com on Saturday and Miramax has not commented on the footage.
Uma Thurman in Kill Bill, directed by Quentin Tarantino.
The first Weinstein incident was in Paris after she had appeared in Pulp Fiction in 1994, which Miramax produced.
She and Weinstein got to know each other after the film was released. It won him and Miramax critical acclaim and was a standout role for Thurman.
They had gotten to know each other well before the first inappropriate encounter in a Paris hotel she said. At the time, Weinstein was married to his wife Eve and she was with Ethan Hawke.
He took her into a steam room while she was dressed 'in full leather' and he in a robe. Weinstein became embarrassed when she asked him what he was doing.
'I was standing there in my full black leather outfit — boots, pants, jacket. And it was so hot and I said, "This is ridiculous, what are you doing?" And he was getting very flustered and mad and he jumped up and ran out,' she said.
Harvey Weinstein has admitted the Paris incident but said the claims he had physically assaulted Thurman were untrue.
The day after that alleged attack, Thurman claims he sent her an ostentatious bouquet of yellow roses the next day with a note which said: 'You have great instincts.'
She returned to the hotel the next day to confront him, taking with her a male friend for protection.
Weinstein would not meet them in the bar so she went up to his room at his request, she recalled, and scolded him over what he had done.
'If you do what you did to me to other people you will lose your career, your reputation and your family, I promise you,' she said she told him.
Weinstein appeared to corroborate her version of this conversation, telling the Times: 'She very well could have said this.'
He acknowledged the Paris incident, saying that he 'made a pass after misreading her signals' but did not comment on the London claims - when he is alleged of throwing himself on her.
The 65-year-old, who has been taking refuge in Arizona since the scandal about him broke in October, has consistently denied the accusations of countless women who say he raped, attacked or harassed them.
For years afterwards, she was forced to see Weinstein and promote their work together against her will.
She told Tarantino about what had happened and he confronted Weinstein, she said.
Weinstein admitted the incident, she claimed, and apologised.
'At some point, his eyes changed and he went from aggressive to ashamed. I just walked away stunned, like "OK, well there's my half-a**ed apology,"" she said.
