Game of Thrones star Lena Headey has opened up about two disturbing encounters with disgraced former Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, revealing that a malfunctioning hotel room key card prevented what she feared could have become a far worse situation.Speaking to Radio Times, the actress, best known for playing Cersei Lannister in HBO’s fantasy drama, recalled first meeting Weinstein while promoting the 2005 film The Brothers Grimm in Venice.Headey said Weinstein tried to kiss her during a walk, but she immediately rejected his advances.“Harvey and I went for a walk, and he tried to kiss me, and I was kind of drunk and young and didn’t give two s–ts. But I thought, ‘You’re 52.’ And I told him to get lost,” she said.According to Headey, Weinstein sent her flowers the following day along with an apology.
‘My whole body shut down’
The actress said she encountered Weinstein again around six months later during a breakfast meeting, when he invited her to a film screening before asking her to come up to his hotel room to discuss scripts.“I’m going to give you scripts, come up to my room,” Weinstein allegedly told her.Headey said she immediately sensed something was wrong as they entered the elevator.“And we got in the lift, and when we got in, I just knew. And my whole body shut down,” she recalled.“I said, ‘I think you’re thinking I want more than friendship, and I have no interest in that.'”According to Headey, Weinstein then led her toward his hotel room despite her objections.“He marched me, literally, to his room. He was so big.”She said the situation changed when Weinstein’s key card repeatedly failed to unlock the door.“His key card didn’t work. Eventually after trying again and again with the card and punching the door, he took me downstairs and said, ‘Never say anything to anybody.'”Headey said she broke down after leaving the hotel.“I got in my car and just cried. And he never offered me a role in any of his films, ever again.”
Weinstein allegedly commented on her appearance
Headey also claimed Weinstein criticised her appearance early in her career.“And I was also told to get my teeth straightened by Harvey Weinstein,” she said, adding that he had also pressured her to get Botox on her forehead while she was still in her 20s.
Lena Headey addresses Hollywood power imbalance
The actress discussed the experiences while promoting her new BBC Radio 4 series Intimacy, an eight-part comedy drama that she wrote and directed.Speaking about the entertainment industry, Headey said she wanted the series to explore what she described as the “toxic cycle” of Hollywood.“The majority of people in the room are men,” she said. “A lot of men who don’t love women end up in our industry. They now have power and now is the time to put us in our place. It’s the patriarchy, isn’t it?”Weinstein, once one of Hollywood’s most influential producers, is a convicted sex offender and is currently being held at Rikers Island in New York. Numerous actresses have publicly accused him of sexual misconduct since allegations against him sparked the #MeToo movement in 2017.
