For Millennials. By Millennials.
Rose McGowan was one of the first two women to come out against Harvey Weinstein. But, that was only possible because the actor-turned-activist was able to trick the disgraced Hollywood mogul into admitting to his crimes. Here’s the clever trick that McGowan played to save countless women from the serial rapist.
How Rose McGowan tricked Harvey Weinstein
During her interview with Mariella Frostrup on TimesRadio, 46-year-old Rose McGowan further spoke about her experience with Harvey Weinstein. During that, McGowan disclosed the clever trick she played on Weinstein that would ensure she could not be silenced:
I have never signed a non-disclosure agreement, I refused, I tricked him.
Instead of signing a non-disclosure, she took a small payout of $100,000 instead of a million dollars, which Weinstein used to pay out to his victims. Rose McGowan recalls:
He had been, as it turned out, making million-dollar payouts. That was the status quo. A million dollars. Shut up. But I said I wanted a hundred thousand dollars. And I think he got so excited. And I said I wanted less money but I don’t want to sign a non-disclosure… So I had a document that proved what he’d done and didn’t have an NDA.
McGowan then further says that her activism has been misrepresented by the media and several of its commentators. She further said:
So people have been erroneous; they’ve been saying she broke her NDA, I never signed one. I knew back then what I was going to do. I said, if I hear of you doing this, I immediately did
And I immediately strategised and through a blacklisting in Hollywood and making it very difficult to work and things that were, you know, more to my taste level and talent level.
But, signing an NDA wasn’t enough for Rose McGowan. She had to gather the strength and the powerful platform that she needed to entail her experience with Harvey Weinstein.
She explains how she got the strength
Rose McGowan further mentioned how her childhood and upbringing gave her the strength for her activism. She says that injustice does not sit well with her, as she recalls:
My father said I was born with a fist up in the air. And I have to think he was right. I think the unconventional childhood definitely prepared me for an unconventional life. But I really did. I have a strange thing about injustice. It makes me very angry and angry enough to change the world, in fact.
But, strength and an NDA wasn’t enough. McGowan understood that she had to make a name for herself to build the platform needed to speak out against Harvey Weinstein:
I knew if I did this one TV show called Charmed, that I would have eyes on me all over the world when it came time to strike.
And that moment came to her with the #MeToo movement, that stormed the world in 2017. It made the world a little bit safer for women from rape, sexual harassment, and sexual assault. Moreover, it put Harvey Weinstein behind bars, where he is sentenced to 23 years in prison since February. However, he continues to maintain his innocence, despite 90 women coming out against him.
