Julia Ormond Sues Disney & Others For Allegedly Enabling Harvey Weinstein
Content warning: sexual assault
Actress Julia Ormond is suing major studios, alleging that they protected and enabled convicted sex offender and former power producer Harvey Weinstein.
The British actress, known for movies like "Legends of the Fall" and shows like "The Walking Dead: World Beyond," is primarily suing Weinstein himself for sexual battery, but an exclusive report in Variety reveals that CAA, The Walt Disney Company, and Miramax are involved in the suit as well. Ormond alleges that, in 1995, Weinstein assaulted her by forcing her to perform oral sex after he convinced her to give him a massage, as well as masturbating on her — and not only that, but she says CAA agents Bryan Lourd and Kevin Huvane knew about the assault and dissuaded her from telling anyone else.
"The men at CAA who represented Ormond knew about Weinstein. So too did Weinstein's employers at Miramax and Disney," reads the lawsuit, which was exclusively obtained by Variety. "Brazenly, none of these prominent companies warned Ormond that Weinstein had a history of assaulting women because he was too important, too powerful, and made them too much money."
Weinstein is currently incarcerated for previous sex crime convictions.
Julia Ormond told Variety her side of the story
As for Julia Ormond, she spoke to Variety over the phone and told the outlet that she felt it was important to talk about her alleged experience with Weinstein for the first time. "I am coming forward with my story now publicly because I feel as if we still need systemic change, and I feel that we need accountability from enablers, in order to get there," the actress said. "I feel that this is what happened with me."
After saying that she's aware that Weinstein will be in prison for a very long time, Ormond clarified that she thinks studios and agents alike have made sure that Weinstein could hurt women for decades because he was simply too powerful to go after for so long. "I personally don't believe that Harvey could have done this without enablers," she said. "And for me, that is the layer that you have to get down to, in terms of the root cause. If you think about it, if there had been best practices and Harvey Weinstein had been called out at the start after his first sexual harassment or his first sexual assault, he could have learned different behaviors, and potentially all of the people that followed wouldn't have been harmed. But he wasn't. And there's a reason for that."
Harvey Weinstein responded to these allegations
Imran H. Ansari, Harvey Weinstein's attorney, released a statement to Variety, which reads: "Harvey Weinstein categorically denies the allegations made against him by Julia Ormond and he is prepared to vehemently defend himself. This is yet another example of a complaint filed against Mr. Weinstein after the passing of decades, and he is confident that the evidence will not support Ms. Ormond's claims."
In 2017, after a bombshell New York Times report about rampant sexual misconduct, Weinstein was accused of sexual impropriety by, ultimately, over 100 women. Weinstein is currently serving time in Mohawk Correctional Facility in Upstate New York after being convicted in various New York City courts for multiple counts of sexual assault and rape, receiving a sentence of 23 years in prison back in 2020. In 2023, the former producer was extradited from New York to California to stand trial there and was ultimately convicted there as well with a 16-year sentence, but he cannot serve concurrently. As of this writing, Weinstein is 71 years old, so barring an extraordinarily long life or major medical intervention, it seems likely that he'll spend the rest of his life in prison.
If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).