Game of Thrones star Lena Headey opens up about two harrowing encounters with disgraced former Hollywood producer Harvey Weinsteinrevealing that a malfunctioning hotel room key card prevented what he feared would be a worse situation.Speaking to the Radio Times, the actress, best known for playing Cersei Lannister in the HBO fantasy drama, recalled her first meeting with Weinstein while promoting the 2005 film The Brothers Grimm in Venice.Headey said Weinstein tried to kiss her while walking, but she immediately rejected his advances.“Harvey and I were walking, and he tried to kiss me, and I was drunk and young and didn’t give two s–ts. But I thought, ‘You’re 52.’ And I told him to get lost,” he said.According to Headey, Weinstein sent her flowers the next day along with an apology.
“My whole body is shut down”
The actress said she met Weinstein again about six months ago during a breakfast meeting, when he invited her to a screening of the film before asking him to come to her hotel room to discuss the scripts.“I’ll give you scripts, go 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,” he recalled.“I said, ‘I think you think I want more than friendship, and I’m not interested in that.'”According to Headey, Weinstein took her to her hotel room despite her objections.“He marched me, literally, to 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. Eventually after trying the card over and over again and banging on the door, he took me downstairs and said, ‘Don’t ever say anything to anybody.'”Headey said he broke down after leaving the hotel.“I got in my car and just cried. And he never offered me a role in any of his films, though.”
Weinstein allegedly commented on her appearance
Headey also claimed that Weinstein criticized her appearance early in her career.“And I was also told to get my teeth straightened by Harvey Weinstein,” she said, adding that he also forced her to get Botox on her forehead when she was in her 20s.
Lena Headey addresses the Hollywood power imbalance
The actress discussed 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 he wanted the series to examine what he described as Hollywood’s “toxic cycle.”“The majority of people in the room are men,” he said. “A lot of men who don’t love women end up in our industry. They now have the power and now is the time to put us in our place. This is the patriarchy, right?”Weinstein, once one of Hollywood’s most influential producers, is a convicted sex offender and is currently incarcerated at Rikers Island in New York. Several celebrities have publicly accused him of sexual misconduct since allegations against him sparked the #MeToo movement in 2017.