#MeToo activist Asia Argento settled sex assault complaint
August 20, 2018
She was among the first women to have publicly accused Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault. Now a NYT report reveals that actress Asia Argento also made a deal with a colleague to settle her own sexual misconduct case.
Image: picture alliance/MAXPPP/dpa/F. Dugit
Advertisement
According to a report in TheNew York Times, Asia Argento is said to have met her then 17-year-old colleague Jimmy Bennett in a California hotel room in 2013. The age of consent in the US state is 18.
After drinking alcohol, the actress, then 37, reportedly performed oral sex on Bennet, slept with him and then asked him to take photos.
The newspaper based its story on anonymous sources and documents of the two parties' legal representatives. The documents included a selfie of the couple in bed, described as authentic by three people familiar with the case.
In 2004, Bennett, then age seven, had played Argento's son in the film The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things, directed by the actress herself. The two had maintained close contact afterwards, comparing in interviews their connection to a mother-son relationship.
After the 2013 incident, Bennett, an actor and rock musician, had felt abused and exploited and maintained that the encounter had traumatized him and hurt his career, the documents say.
Argento in Cannes in 2018Image: picture-alliance/AP/V. le Caer
$380,000 in damages
In the autumn of 2017, Bennett's lawyer threatened to file suit, seeking $3.5 million in damages for "intentional infliction of emotional distress, lost wages, assault and battery."
The Italian actress became a leading figure in the #MeToo movement. According to the documentation, Bennett found it impossible to endure seeing Argento portray herself as a victim of abuse.
In early 2018, the two sides agreed on a payment of $380,000 (roughly €330,000). As reported in the New York Times, the agreement did not include hush money, as neither party had desired to talk about the affair.
Actor Jimmy BennettImage: Getty Images/F. M. Brown
At the Cannes Film Festival in May, Argento gave a speech describing the festival as Weinstein's hunting grounds and claimed that the onetime Hollywood mogul had raped her there in 1997 when she was 21. "Things have changed. We are not going to allow you to get away with it," she said.
Weinstein is said to have received women in his hotel room and compelled them to have sex with him — a nearly identical situation to that which purportedly transpired between Argento and Bennett.
Weinstein has meanwhile been indicted of several accounts of sex abuse and rape. Disputing them, the film producer claims that sexual relations had always been consensual.
After paying a seven-digit sum for bail, Weinstein was released from detention but is required to wear a monitoring unit.
French stars divided over #MeToo
An open letter signed by over 100 celebrities, among them Catherine Deneuve, in the newspaper Le Monde has caused an uproar in France, where stars are divided about the role of the #MeToo and #BalancetonPorc actions.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Catherine Deneuve
Among the signatories of the open letter was Oscar-nominated French star Catherine Deneuve. Already known for her controversial stance toward harassment, Deneuve has said she finds the #MeToo and #BalanceTonPorc social media actions "excessive." That's after she expressed her support for director Roman Polanski, who is still wanted in the US for the statutory rape of a 13-year-old girl in 1977.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Catherine Millet
Modern art expert and editor-in-chief of the magazine Art Press, Catherine Millet was also among the signatories who wrote, "Rape is a crime, but trying to seduce someone, even persistently or cack-handedly, is not — nor is men being gentlemanly a macho attack." Millet is perhaps best known for her book, "The Sexual Life of Catherine M.," a memoir tracing her 30 years in France's swinger scene.
Image: Getty Images/J.Saget
Ingrid Caven
German-born Chanson singer, Ingrid Caven, added her name to the open letter, which claims that the protest's legitimacy has turned into a "witch-hunt." "Instead of helping women, this frenzy (...) actually helps the enemies of sexual liberty — religious extremists and the worst sort of reactionaries. As women, we do not recognize ourselves in this feminism."
Image: Getty Images/S.Kugler
Brigitte Lahaie
A radio talk show host who got her start in the porn industry in 1976, just a year after it was legalized, Brigitte Lahaie signed the letter, which speaks of a "purifying wave" that knows no limit. "(T)he human being is not monolithic: a woman can in the same day lead a professional team and enjoy being the sexual object of a man without being a 'slut' nor a vile accomplice of the patriarchy."
Image: Getty Images/T.Samson
#BalanceTonPorc
France's version of #MeToo is #BalanceTonPorc, or "call out your pig." Created by NY-based French journalist Sandra Muller, it essentially invites people to name names — and that involves legal risks. Muller herself was asked by lawyers to delete a tweet in which she named a French executive who had said offensive remarks.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/F. Pennant
Ségolène Royal
Prominent feminists quickly responded to the letter signed by Deneuve, saying that it blurred the line between seduction and harassment and in doing so, harmed the "millions of women who suffer from this abuse." Former presidential candidate Ségolène Royal took to Twitter to express her dismay, saying, "It's too bad that our great Catherine Deneuve has signed on to this disconcerting text."
Image: Getty Images
Emma De Caunes
Among the women who have accused Harvey Weinstein of inappropriate behavior is French actress Emma De Caunes. De Caunes said she had met Weinstein for lunch at a Paris Hotel in 2010. She was invited to his hotel room to discuss a project but after he walked out of his bathroom naked with an erection, Caunes fled. "It was like a hunter with a wild animal," she said. "The fear turns him on."
Image: Getty Images/F.Lo Presti
Florence Darel
In October, actress Florence Darel also came out as having been sexually harassed by Harvey Weinstein, telling People magazine that Weinstein pursued her in the mid '90s and then propositioned her in a hotel room while his then-wife, Eve Chilton, was in the room next door. Darcel, who starred in "The Stolen Children" and "Uranus" has also accused other French producers, including Jacques Dorfmann.
Image: Getty Images/P.Le Segretain
Isabelle Adjani
In October, shortly after the accusations against Harvey Weinstein went public, French actress Isabelle Adjani published an op-ed in the weekly JDD newspaper saying, "(T)his is not a game … When an actress dresses up in a seductive way to get a role, it's not to get raped!" She went on to say that in France, "things are more sneaky" than in the US — but "seduction" cannot be an excuse for assault.
