Here's How George Clooney Saved Salma Hayek from ‘Monster’ Harvey Weinstein’s Abuse
![Here's How George Clooney Saved Salma Hayek from ‘Monster’ Harvey Weinstein’s Abuse](https://dab57h0r8ahff.cloudfront.net/710116/uploads/83e919c0-571b-11ef-861c-7597d8c5a16d_1200_630.jpeg)
Renowned actress Salma Hayek once opened up about her horrid experience with the disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein. Her story, which came out in 2017 in The New York Times, recounted the sexual harassment she faced and how her friendship with George Clooney perhaps helped her avoid even more dire situations.
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Hayek's ordeal began when she approached Weinstein with her passion project— a biopic about the legendary Mexican artist, Frida Kahlo. What should have been a dream come true quickly turned into a nightmare. She shared, "For years, he was my monster. A passionate cinephile, a risk taker, a patron of talent in film, a loving father, and a monster," as per Hollywood Life.
Harvey Weinstein will rot in hell for a laundry list of offenses, but his abuse of Salma Hayek and his attempts to derail this film are so repulsive. I think she persevered under the most strenuous of circumstances and I just love this performance.
— Glorfindel of Gondolin (@IAmNotDannyBoy) May 28, 2024
The actress detailed numerous instances of Weinstein's alleged inappropriate behavior. "No to opening the door to him at all hours of the night, hotel after hotel, location after location, where he would show up unexpectedly. No to me taking a shower with him. No to letting him watch me take a shower. No to letting him give me a massage. No to letting a naked friend of his give me a massage. No to letting him give me oral sex. No to my getting naked with another woman. No, no, no, no, no..."
We need to unpack why that is. Ashely Judd stopped doing nude scenes bc Weinstein would show up and harass her. And when she stopped doing them, he tanked her career. He did the same to Mira Sorvino and Salma Hayek. There are dozens of men and women in power who abuse it to...
— ThereWillBeTypos 🤷🏾♀️ (@CGTheGeek) February 12, 2023
Hayek believes her connections in Hollywood may have saved her from even more severe abuse. She asserted, "I knew him a little bit through my relationship with the director Robert Rodriguez and the producer Elizabeth Avellan, who was then his wife, with whom I had done several films and who had taken me under their wing. Knowing what I know now, I wonder if it wasn't my friendship with them — and Quentin Tarantino and George Clooney — that saved me from being raped."
Ok, but some of us remember Salma Hayek writing about how she had to take a tranquilizer before filming a sex scene that Harvey Weinstein demanded be included, so it's not just prudishness to object to them.
— Kai Samuelsen 🧦🗽🚅 (@KaiDaigoji) May 17, 2024
The making of Frida was a torturous process for Hayek. "The range of his persuasion tactics went from sweet-talking me to that one time when, in an attack of fury, he said the terrifying words, 'I will kill you, don't think I can't,'" Hayek revealed. Additionally, she claimed he consistently undermined her talents and tried to shut down the production of Frida.
In one particular incident she recalled, "Halfway through shooting, Harvey turned up on set and complained about Frida's 'unibrow.' He insisted that I eliminate the limp and berated my performance. Then he asked everyone in the room to step out except for me. He told me that the only thing I had going for me was my sex appeal and that there was none of that in this movie."
The actress says Weinstein gave her an ultimatum. It was to perform a sex scene with another woman or he would shut down the film. Hayek reluctantly agreed but the experience was deeply traumatic. "I had a nervous breakdown. My body began to shake uncontrollably, my breath was short and I began to cry and cry. It was not because I would be naked with another woman. It was because I would be naked with her for Harvey Weinstein," she stated, as per Vogue.