Film

Uma Thurman Has Accused Harvey Weinstein Of Sexual Assault

The actress also alleges a misuse of power from Quentin Tarantino.

by Patrick Lenton  4 February 2018
Uma Thurman

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Uma Thurman’s promised accusations against Harvey Weinstein have been published in a troubling piece for the New York Times, in which the actress also alleges abuse at the hands of other Hollywood men.

After foreshadowing her allegations against Weinstein last year during a viral red carpet interview, and in an ominous Instagram post, Thurman has delivered on her promise, and has alleged that Weinstein assaulted her not long after the premiere of 1994’s Pulp Fiction in a London hotel room. Weinstein has been accused of sexual harassment, assault and rape by multiple women, and is currently under police investigation.

“It was such a bat to the head,” Thurman told the New York Times‘ Maureen Dowd. “He pushed me down. He tried to shove himself on me. He tried to expose himself. He did all kinds of unpleasant things.”

Thurman also details an uncomfortable experience in Paris, where she says Weinstein donned a bathrobe during a meeting in a hotel room and got her to follow him into a steam room.

After confronting him about his actions, Weinstein is alleged to have threatened to ruin and derail her career in response.

Harvey Weinstein has denied the allegations, releasing a statement through a spokesperson which acknowledged her account of the episodes but said that up until the Paris steam room, they had had “a flirtatious and fun working relationship.”

“Mr. Weinstein acknowledges making a pass at Ms. Thurman in England after misreading her signals in Paris,” the statement said. “He immediately apologised.”

Another statement reads: “Her claims about being physically assaulted are untrue and this is the first time we have heard those details.”

The statement, released to the Huffington Post, included several photos of Thurman and Weinstein together at events, which the spokeswoman purports demonstrate the pair had a “strong relationship.”

Thurman discusses her “complicated feeling toward Harvey” which stems from her regret about the number of women who have accused him of assault after her own experience.

“I am one of the reasons that a young girl would walk into his room alone, the way I did,” she said. “Quentin used Harvey as the executive producer of ‘Kill Bill,’ a movie that symbolises female empowerment. And all these lambs walked into slaughter because they were convinced nobody rises to such a position who would do something illegal to you, but they do.”

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Along with the allegations against Weinstein, Thurman talks about a sexual assault from an unnamed actor when she was sixteen, as well as an abuse of power from director Quentin Tarantino on the set of Kill Bill Volume 2. She alleges that the director pressured her into driving an unsafe car, and was “furious because I’d cost them a lot of time” at her objections. Upsetting footage of the eventual crash is included in the New York Times article.

“The steering wheel was at my belly and my legs were jammed under me,” says Uma Thurman. “I felt this searing pain and thought, ‘Oh my God, I’m never going to walk again'”. The incident left her with a “permanently damaged neck” and “screwed up knees”. Thurman claims both Weinstein and Tarantino turned on her after the crash.

“Harvey assaulted me but that didn’t kill me,” she said. “What really got me about the crash was that it was a cheap shot. I had been through so many rings of fire by that point.”

Quentin Tarantino is yet to respond to any of the allegations.