The actor Natassia Malthe has alleged that the Hollywood film producer Harvey Weinstein raped her in a London hotel room in 2008 and continued to harass her while she pursued her acting career.
Ms Malthe, who has appeared in several films, is the latest woman to accuse Mr Weinstein of sexual assault.
Ms Malthe told reporters at a press conference in New York on Wednesday that despite her repeatedly telling Mr Weinstein she was not interested in a sexual relationship, he forced himself on her in a room at the Sanderson hotel after they met at the Baftas in February 2008. Later, he asked her to join in a threesome in a Los Angeles hotel.
After the incident in Los Angeles, Ms Malthe said she called Mr Weinstein and told him being in his movies was “not worth what he wanted to exchange”.
Describing what happened in the London hotel room, Ms Malthe did not use the word rape but gave a detailed description of non-consensual sex.
Asked whether the complaint amounted to an allegation of rape, Ms Malthe's lawyer Gloria Allred, who appeared alongside Ms Malthe, described it as sexual assault that involved non-consensual penetration.
Ms Malthe said she first met Mr Weinstein at a Baftas after-party. She said he asked her which hotel she was staying at and she answered.
Asleep in her hotel room hours later, she said, she was woken up by Mr Weinstein pounding on her room door. “His clothes were messy and his face didn’t look normal and I thought: could he possibly be on drugs?” she said.
Ms Malthe said he barged into her room and named A-list actors whose careers he had made because they slept with him. Ms Malthe said she denied his advances but he eventually forced himself on her and started having sex with her, though she asked him to stop.
Speaking in New York on Wednesday, Ms Malthe said: “It was not consensual. He did not use a condom. However, he did not ejaculate inside me. After having sexual intercourse, he masturbated.”
She added: “I believe I dissociated during the time he was having sex with me. I played dead.”
The Weinstein Company did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A representative for Mr Weinstein issued an earlier statement that read: "Any allegations of non-consensual sex are unequivocally denied by Mr Weinstein. With respect to any women who have made allegations on the record, Mr Weinstein believes that all of these relationships were consensual."
The allegations follow weeks of claims about Mr Weinstein. Earlier this month, several actors accused him of sexual harassment, prompting a cascade of other actors and assistants to publicly accuse the producer of assault and harassment.
In the wake of the allegations, he was forced out of the Weinstein Company, which he co-founded with his brother. He is also being investigated by law enforcement in New York, Los Angeles and London.
Ms Malthe said that later she met Mr Weinstein at the Peninsula hotel in Los Angeles to discuss an upcoming film role after he told her there would be no “hanky-panky”. When she arrived, Ms Malthe said she was pressured to have a threesome but she rejected the offer and left.
Ms Malthe, who is from Norway, said she left the US after that incident and became depressed and anxious. "I felt that my dreams had been shattered," Ms Malthe said.
Ms Malthe forcefully concluded her statement with an explanation of why she decided to go public with the accusations. “Actresses should not have to demean themselves to be successful,” she said.
Ms Malthe explained that she had experienced harassment from many men in Hollywood, but the experiences with Mr Weinstein were “the worst”.
On Tuesday, a woman who had worked as a production assistant for Weinstein, Mimi Haleyi, said the producer sexually assaulted her using force at his home in 2006. "I told him no, no, no, but he insisted," Ms Haleyi said on Tuesday, also speaking alongside Ms Allred in New York City.
Ms Allred, a well-known women’s rights attorney, said she had expected to meet with the Weinstein Company’s board that day, but the meeting was cancelled late the night before.
She said she turned down an alternative meeting with the company’s attorneys and instead shared the proposal she had planned to present to the board with reporters.
Ms Allred said the company should create a trust with funds to provide to his accusers, if an arbitrator found the accuser was deserving of the money. Ms Allred said: “It is time for the Weinstein Company to put their money where their mouths are.”–Guardian