Game of Thrones star Lena Headey has opened up about two disturbing encounters with the disgraced former Hollywood producer. Harvey Weinsteinrevealing that a malfunctioning hotel room key card prevented what she feared could have turned into a much worse situation.Speaking to the Radio Times, the actress, best known for playing Cersei Lannister in the HBO fantasy drama, recalled her first encounter with 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 a little drunk and young and he didn’t give me two sizes. But I was like, ‘You’re 52.’ And I told him to get lost,” she said.According to Headey, Weinstein sent her flowers the next day along with an apology.
‘My whole body has shut down’
The actress said she ran into Weinstein again about six months later during a breakfast meeting, when he invited her to a film screening before asking her to come to his hotel room to discuss the scripts.“I’ll give you scripts, come to my room,” Weinstein told her.Headey said he immediately felt something was wrong when they entered the elevator.“And we got in the elevator, 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 a friendship, and I’m not interested in that.’According to Headey, Weinstein drove her to her hotel room despite her objections.“He literally took me into his room. He was so big.”He said the situation changed when Weinstein’s key card repeatedly failed to open the door.“His key card didn’t work. Finally, after trying over and over with the key card and banging on the door, he took me downstairs and said, ‘Don’t ever tell anyone.’Headey said he broke down after leaving the hotel.“I got in my car and cried. And he never offered me a role in any of his movies again, never again.”
Weinstein allegedly commented on her appearance
Headey also claimed that Weinstein criticized her appearance early in her career.“And Harvey Weinstein also told me to straighten my teeth,” she said, adding that he also pressured her to get Botox on her forehead when she was still in her 20s.
Lena Headey addresses Hollywood’s power imbalance
The actress opened up about the experiences while promoting her new BBC Radio 4 series Intimacy, an eight-part comedy drama 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.“Most of the people in the room are men,” he said. “A lot of men who don’t love women end up in our industry. Now they have power and now it’s 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.