Sienna Miller Says She ‘Wasn’t Scared’ of Harvey Weinstein, Dating Jude Law Gave Her ‘Protection’
Sienna Miller now stars in Netflix’s #MeToo drama “Anatomy of a Scandal,” but the film veteran says she was not aware of a massive Hollywood scandal unfolding years ago: Harvey Weinstein‘s sexual harassment and rape of actresses.
Miller, who worked with mega-producer Weinstein on 2006’s Edie Sedgwick biopic “Factory Girl,” admitted that she was completely oblivious to Weinstein’s attacks on women at the time. The Miramax and Weinstein Company executive was convicted of rape in 2020 and sentenced to 23 years in prison.
“I wasn’t scared of him, actually,” Miller told The Guardian. “And I was not aware that he was raping people.”
While Weinstein’s infamous harshness was well-known (“You weren’t really inaugurated until Weinstein made you cry”), Miller added that she “genuinely felt he’d given [her] the biggest validation” by criticizing her behind the scenes.
The “21 Bridges” star detailed a tense encounter with Weinstein, recalling, “He sat me down in his office and said, ‘You’re not f***ing going out anymore, you’re not partying, rah rah rah.’ He was standing over me while I was sitting in a chair, lip quivering, and then he slammed the door, and I burst into tears.”
However, Miller noted that she had “never been propositioned by anyone, for a job” and when Weinstein did ask her to meet at a hotel, she “brought the other producers and it was innocuous.”
Miller speculated as to why Weinstein never attacked her, saying, “I was Jude’s girlfriend, and there was probably protection in that. Jude was a big actor for Harvey.”
Plus, “I called Harvey ‘Pops’ from day one, which I’m sure helped; you’re not going to wank on that,” Miller added.
Angelina Jolie previously spoke out about having to “warn” other actresses about Weinstein’s harassment, even turning down “The Aviator,” which Weinstein produced. “I never associated or worked with him again,” Jolie said of Weinstein, citing that it “hurt” when now estranged husband Brad Pitt collaborated with Weinstein on The Weinstein Company productions from Quentin Tarantino and Andrew Dominik.
Tarantino revealed that he knew of Weinstein making “unwanted advances” toward women but was not aware that rape was involved. The auteur called Weinstein a “fucked up father figure.”
“I knew enough to do more than I did,” Tarantino said in 2017, revealing former girlfriend Mira Sorvino told him about Weinstein harassing her. “There was more to it than just the normal rumors, the normal gossip. It wasn’t secondhand. I knew he did a couple of these things. I wish I had taken responsibility for what I heard. If I had done the work I should have done then, I would have had to not work with him.”
