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Lupita Nyong’o has joined the list the 50-plus women, who have revealed their stories detailing Harvey Weinstein’s predatory behavior.
The Oscar winning actress detailed her horrid encounter with the former head of The Weinstein Company, in an op-ed for The New York Times.
Nyong’o revealed how Weinstein started touching her inappropriately during a meeting at his house, which led her to offer him a massage – in order to take control of things and make an escape.
“Harvey led me into a bedroom — his bedroom — and announced that he wanted to give me a massage,” the actress recalled. “I thought he was joking at first. He was not. For the first time since I met him, I felt unsafe. I panicked a little and thought quickly to offer to give him one instead: It would allow me to be in control physically, to know exactly where his hands were at all times.”
“He agreed to this and lay on the bed,” the actress further revealed. “I began to massage his back to buy myself time to figure out how to extricate myself from this undesirable situation.
Lupita further told NYT, how Weinstein, despite her saying ‘no’, started taking off her pants – which is when she headed for the door.
“Before long he said he wanted to take off his pants. I told him not to do that and informed him that it would make me extremely uncomfortable. He got up anyway to do so and I headed for the door, saying that I was not at all comfortable with that. “If we’re not going to watch the film, I really should head back to school,” I said.”
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The ‘Queen of Katwe’ actress stated how she tried to make sense out of the whole situation later on, justifying it to herself and brushing it aside as just an ‘awkward moment.’
“I didn’t quite know how to process the massage incident. I reasoned that it had been inappropriate and uncalled-for, but not overtly sexual. I was entering into a business where the intimate is often professional and so the lines are blurred. I was in an educational program where I was giving massages to my classmates and colleagues every day.”
She further added: “Though the incident with Harvey had made me uncomfortable, I was able to explain and justify it to myself, and shelve it as an awkward moment. His offer to me to be a part of the HBO show was a very attractive one and I was excited about it, especially as I would be graduating in another year. I didn’t know how to proceed without jeopardizing my future. But I knew I would not be accepting any more visits to private spaces with Harvey Weinstein.”
Read her full account with the disgraced movie mogul, here.