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Model tells of how a naked Harvey Weinstein asked her for a massage
Zoë Brock was 23 when she alleges she had to lock herself in a hotel bathroom to escape film producer’s advances
Zoë Brock ... Zoë Brock says she hopes the Harvey Weinstein controversy will be a turning point for Hollywood. Photograph: Facebook
Zoë Brock, a model and writer from New Zealand, has accused Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein of making an unwanted sexual advance when she was 23 years old, allegedly taking his clothes off in a hotel room, asking her for a massage and forcing her to run into a bathroom to escape.
The new claims of sexual harassment – detailed in a blogpost and in an interview with the Guardian on Monday – mirror the claims in a New York Times investigation into the movie mogul, which alleged unwanted physical contact and harassment spanning several decades. Brock published her account a day before the embattled film producer was fired from his own company in a scandal that has shaken the entertainment industry.
“I was just really angry and betrayed and disappointed,” Brock said by phone from New Zealand, recounting the impact of the alleged harassment in 1997. “My trust in powerful men and in industry bigwigs, whether in modelling or any industry, is broken and will never not be broken. I will never ever trust men like that ever again.”
Brock’s accusations, outlined in a 2,700-word post on Medium, echoed the pattern alleged in the Times piece. Weinstein has apologised for the “pain” he caused, but he and his lawyers have also denied many of the allegations, saying the article was “saturated with false and defamatory statements” and relied “on mostly hearsay accounts”. An attorney and representative for Weinstein – who has not commented since he was sacked on Sunday – did not respond to requests for comment about Brock’s allegations.
Brock, 43, said she met Weinstein at the Cannes film festival when she was seated next to him at a dinner. They had a nice conversation, and later she joined Weinstein and a large group for a night out, according to her account.
After midnight, Weinstein and his associates offered to drive her, and although she thought she was staying with the larger group, she ended up with the producer and just a few others in his room at the Hôtel du Cap, where they opened a bottle of champagne, she alleged.
No one else showed up and the few remaining people left, she wrote, leaving her “suddenly … alone in a remote hotel suite with Harvey fucking Weinstein”.
“My body went into high alert. I was drunk, young, miles from home, without cash to get a cab, and no cell phone,” she said in her post. “Harvey left the room, but not for long. He re-emerged naked a couple of minutes later and asked if I would give him a massage. Panicking, in shock, I remember weighing up the options and wondering how much I needed to placate him to keep myself safe.”
Weinstein allegedly “pleaded” with her to let him give her a massage, leaving her “terrified”, she wrote. “I shrugged Harvey’s hands off me, ran into the bathroom and locked the door. Harvey chased me, dick, balls and all, and banged on the door with his fists, pleading with me to come out.”
Eventually, Weinstein promised to put his clothes on, she wrote, and when she came out of the bathroom, he was allegedly crying and saying she rejected him because he was fat. The producer and an assistant drove her to another hotel where she slept the night, she wrote.
At breakfast the next morning, she said, “the smirks and knowing winks that passed between my group made me feel unsupported, disbelieved, whorish and cheap. No one believed my story. They all thought I had slept with Weinstein.”
Brock, who was born in New Zealand and modelled in Australia, said she hoped the controversy would be a turning point in Hollywood. “I’d love to see a culture where the public doesn’t victim shame and blame … I hope there is a domino effect of women speaking out about not just Harvey, but anyone else who treats them like this and enables abusers.”
She added: “I want my daughter and all little girls to know that they have to stand up to bullies and lawyers.”
Brock said she has privately told her story to many people over the years, but decided to publicly share her account after she read that Weinstein was denying allegations in the Times report and that his attorney was threatening to sue the paper. “That just made me furious,” she said.
She said she had sympathy for Weinstein’s accusers, who, according to the Times, were paid off with settlements over the years. “They worked their entire lives to get to a point in their career where one man can take his clothes off and be powerful enough to ruin that woman’s career if she says something about it.”
Brock – who now splits her time between California, New Zealand and Australia – noted that the encounter with Weinstein was part of the reason why she decided not to pursue a career in film and television. “After that situation, I avoided the idea of Hollywood and acting.”
In one of his comments responding to accusations, Weinstein said: “I came of age in the 60s and 70s, when all the rules about behaviour and workplaces were different.”
Since publishing her story, Brock said she had been asked about the ways in which the industry has changed since her experience in the 1990s. “I’d say there’s no difference between the culture back then and now,” she said, pointing out the allegations of recent harassment. “Harvey was still doing it.”
If you have stories to share about Harvey Weinstein or sexual misconduct in Hollywood, contact sam.levin@theguardian.com
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