Actress Heather Kerr alleges sexual misconduct against Harvey Weinstein
LOS ANGELES (AP/FOX 13) - Actress Heather Kerr has alleged Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein sexually assaulted her.
Kerr described what happened to her in a press conference Friday.
She said she set up a meeting with Weinstein at an office in Westwood.
She went into his office and was told to sit on a couch, where he sat next to her and told her, "how things worked in Hollywood," and asked her if she was "good."
Kerr said Weinstein told her if he was going to help her career, he wanted to know if she was "any good," repeating the idea multiple times.
"He had this sly, sleazy smile on his face," she said, adding she had a sick feeling in her stomach. "The next thing I knew, he had unzipped his fly and pulled out his penis."
She said she wondered, "How is this happening?" and wondered how she could get out of the situation.
She says Weinstein forced her to touch his genitals.
That's when Kerr told Weinstein she needed to leave and pulled her hand away, "as casually as possible," Kerr said.
He told her this was, "how things worked in Hollywood," and this is how actresses, "make it" in Hollywood, Kerr explained.
Kerr said Weinstein then explained if she wanted to succeed in Hollywood, she would have sexual intercourse with him and then he would give her the names of other men with whom she should have intercourse so she could advance her career.
Kerr said on following Monday, she resigned from her job at a theater and quit acting.
"I have told parts of this story to only a very few people over the years," Kerr said. "I felt so powerless because, after all, he is very powerful and very well known and very successful. I didn't think anyone would believe me. I was nobody. Why would they?"
Kerr held back tears through the press conference but cried as she finished her statement.
During her career as an actress, Kerr, now 56, appeared in the 1981 sitcom "The Facts of Life." She now lives in Washington state.
The Los Angeles Police Department, meanwhile announced a formal investigation has been opened into rape allegations against disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein.
In a tweet, LAPD said its Robbery homicide Division has interviewed a potential sexual assault victim of Harvey Weinstein.
He is now facing criminal inquiries in three cities after an Italian actress told Los Angeles detectives the disgraced film mogul raped her in a hotel room in 2013.
Police confirmed Thursday they are looking into the woman's allegations, and her attorney said he would give additional details about them at a news conference outside a downtown Los Angeles courthouse on Friday afternoon.
The unidentified woman is an Italian model and actress, according to an announcement of attorney David M. Ring's press conference. In addition to talking to detectives, the woman and Ring spoke to the Los Angeles Times on Thursday, telling them Weinstein bullied his way into her hotel room, refused to leave and raped her.
Weinstein, who recently has been accused of multiple acts of sexual harassment and assault spanning decades, has been fired from The Weinstein Co., a TV and movie film production company he co-founded with his brother Bob. He has been expelled from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Producers Guild and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.
Sallie Hofmeister, a representative for Weinstein, said in a statement that Weinstein "unequivocally denies allegations of non-consensual sex."
The Los Angeles investigation comes after announcements last week by police in New York and London that they are taking a new look at allegations involving the Oscar-winner. New York police are taking a fresh look for complaints involving Weinstein and the department has encouraged anyone who may have information about abuses by the producer to contact the department. London police are investigating allegations of sexual assault against him made by two women.
More than 40 women have accused Weinstein, 65, of harassment or abuse. Actresses Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie and Lupita Nyong'o have all accused Weinstein of harassment, while actresses Asia Argento and Rose McGowan have accused the film mogul of raping them.
Nyong'o accused Weinstein of several incidents of harassment in an op-ed piece published by The New York Times on Thursday, including a 2011 incident in which she said the mogul tried to give her a massage at his Connecticut home. She refused, instead giving the mogul a massage and leaving when he said he wanted to take off his pants, Nyong'o wrote.
Also on Thursday, a group of about 30 staffers for The Weinstein Company stated in a letter published online by "The New Yorker" that they didn't know they were "working for a serial sexual predator."
The employees say they knew of Weinstein's "infamous temper" and that he could be "manipulative," but didn't know "that he used his power to systematically assault and silence women."
"We know that in writing this we are in open breach of the non-disclosure agreements in our contracts," the letter stated. "But our former boss is in open violation of his contract with us - the employees - to create a safe place for us to work.
Representatives for Weinstein and The Weinstein Company didn't immediately return a request for comment on the letter Friday.
The stories of harassment and abuse dating back decades has led to the total downfall of a producer who once ruled Hollywood's awards season with a string of contenders including "Shakespeare in Love," for which he shared an Oscar, and films such as "The King's Speech" and "Silver Linings Playbook."
Since The New York Times published its initial expose on Oct. 5, honors conferred on Weinstein by Harvard University and the British Film Institute have been rescinded, and several Democratic lawmakers have donated political contributions they received from Weinstein to charity.
Ring said in a statement Thursday that the breadth of accusations against Weinstein compelled his client to speak to police.
"My client is grateful to all the courageous women who have already come forward to finally expose Weinstein," Ring said. "These women may not have realized it, but they gave my client the support and encouragement to hold Weinstein accountable for this horrible act."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.