What happened between Ashley Judd and Harvey Weinstein? What actress said about the disgraced producer during MeToo movement 

Ashley Judd, who is known for her activism on various fronts, had once spoken up about an encounter she had with Harvey Weinstein around thirty years ago. Judd, who along with her sister Wynonna Judd is currently promoting her new docuseries, The Judd Family: Truth be Told, that focuses on lesser known details about her mother, singer Naomi Judd, had once said in an interview about how Weinstein had asked her to come up to his room and then proceeded to make innapropriate demands from her.

Back in 2017, dozens of women came forward with allegations of s**ual harassment against Weinstein, which soon became the initial steps of the watershed movement that would soon shape into the MeToo Movement that rocked Hollywood. It was during the same year, at the height of the MeToo Movement, that the Double Jeopardy actress revealed her encounter with the once-famed producer.

More about Ashley Judd's encounter with Harvey Weinstein

In an interview with ABC News, Ashley Judd revealed that back in 1997, she was invited to the Peninsula Beverly Hills Hotel in California. However, upon reaching there, she realized that Weinstein had actually called her up to his room instead of talking in the restaurant patio, as initially indicated.

"I remember the lurch, when I went to the desk, and said "Mr. Weinstein, is he on the patio?" and they said "He is in his room." I was like "ugh are you kidding me. I went up because I had a business appointment, which that is his pattern of s*xual predation. That's how he rolled"

In her conversation with Diane Sawyer, the Twin Peaks actress added that once she reached his room, she immediately knew that she had to get out of there, as Harvey Weinstein began pressuring her to give him massages or watch him shower. She said,

"There’s this constant grooming, negotiation going on. I thought no meant no. I fought with this volley of noes, which he ignored. How do I get out of the room as fast as possible without alienating Harvey Weinstein?”

Ashley Judd added that she was very clear that she was not engaging in whatever he had just indicated, but Weinstein paid her no attention. She said,

"Maybe he heard them as maybe, maybe he heard them as yeses. Maybe they turned him on. He asked me to pick out the suit for the day. I have it completely frozen in my mind: the floor plan the door behind me and remember where the closet was."

Ashley Judd further shared how she refused to sit down anywhere in the room, and tried to come up with a plan to smoothly escape the bomb ticking situation.

"He just kept coming at me with all this other stuff. Finally, I just said ‘When I win an Oscar in one of your movies, OK?’ 'He said ‘When you get nominated’. I said ‘No, when I win an Oscar’. And then I just fled. I think, you know, am I proud of that? I’m of two minds. The part that shames myself says no. The part of me that understands the way shame works says ‘that was absolutely brilliant, good job, kid. You got out of there. Well done.'"

Ashley Judd also mentioned in the interview that even though she knew deep down that she should not associate the word "shame" with what happened to her, it had not been easy to escape it. She said,

“It’s a very important word, shame, and it’s a very important thing to talk about, so we all do the best we can and our best is good enough. And it’s really OK to have responded however we responded.”

Ashley Judd was, in fact, one of the first actresses to speak out against Harvey Weinstein, and encouraged other women as well. In a way, her speaking out started a domino effect, where more than eighty women came forward with allegations of s*xual harassment and innapropriate conduct against Harvey Weinstein.

According to Variety, in April 2018, Ashley Judd filed a case against Harvey Weinstein, alleging that he had deliberately ruined her career after she refused his advances. Later, Ashley Judd's case against Harvey Weinstein was dismissed on the grounds that both of them did not yet have a professional relationship.

However, in 2020, the Court of Appeals overturned the earlier ruling, allowing the High Crimes actress to pursue her case against the disgraced producer. In the statement, obtained by Variety, Judge Mary H. Murguia said:

"(T)heir relationship consisted of an inherent power imbalance wherein Weinstein was uniquely situated to exercise coercion or leverage over Judd by virtue of his professional position and influence as a top producer in Hollywood. Therefore, the district court erred when it dismissed Judd’s sexual harassment claim.”

In 2024, when Harvey Weinstein's previous conviction of r*pe was overturned, Ashley Judd was one of the many former victims who spoke out against the decision. Currently, Harvey Weinstein is facing former model Kaja Sokola in court, who accused him of s**ually assaulting her when she was a teenager.

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