ABC News(NEW YORK) — Actress Ashley Judd and her lawyers have filed a lawsuit against disgraced movie producer Harvey Weinstein, claiming that he damaged her career by blocking her from getting major movie roles in retaliation for turning down his advances.
“I lost career opportunity. I lost money. I lost status and prestige and power in my career as a direct result of having been sexually harassed and rebuffing the sexual harassment,” Judd told ABC News on Monday. “My career opportunities, after having been defamed by Harvey Weinstein, were significantly diminished. … My career was damaged because I rebuffed Mr. Weinstein’s sexual advances. I know it for a fact.”
In October, Judd sat down with ABC News’ Diane Sawyer in her first television interview about her Weinstein allegations.
Nearly seven months since then, Judd said her experiences have been really positive.
Judd, who said she had not heard from Weinstein, said she would donate any monetary damages from the lawsuit to the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund.
In December, “Lord of the Rings” director Peter Jackson spoke to the New Zealand publication Stuff and said that Weinstein made him blacklist certain female stars, including Judd.
Judd said Monday that learning of that had made her feel “very sad.” She told ABC News that she was up for a role in the film and then “radio silence.”
“It’s very upsetting, you know,” she said. “It was a special time to be invited into their offices. … Then all of a sudden, mysteriously, we never heard back.”
Weinstein has denied all allegations of sexual assault and has not commented on Judd’s lawsuit. Last year, Weinstein’s spokesperson said that while Bob and Harvey Weinstein were executive producers of Jackson’s film, they had no input on the casting whatsoever.
A spokesperson for the movie executive told The New Yorker in a prior statement: “Any allegations of non-consensual sex are unequivocally denied by Mr. Weinstein.”
“Mr. Weinstein has further confirmed that there were never any acts of retaliation against any women for refusing his advances. Mr. Weinstein obviously can’t speak to anonymous allegations, but with respect to any women who have made allegations on the record, Mr. Weinstein believes that all of these relationships were consensual,” according to the full statement from Weinstein’s spokesperson. “Mr. Weinstein has begun counseling, has listened to the community and is pursuing a better path. Mr. Weinstein is hoping that, if he makes enough progress, he will be given a second chance.”
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