Feminist Lawyer Gloria Allred Accused of Telling Harvey Weinstein Accuser to Stay Silent
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Feminist power attorney Gloria Allred reportedly told an alleged victim of Harvey Weinstein to stay silent as part of a settlement deal with the disgraced Hollywood producer, according to the New York Times reporters who initially broke the Weinstein scandal.
Times reporters Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey revealed in a recent episode of the newspaper’s podcast “The Daily” that Allred’s firm advised the accuser — dancer Ashley Anderson — to settle with Weinstein for $125,000. As part of the deal, she was barred from talking publicly about her allegations against the producer.
Anderson, who now goes by Ashley Matthau, alleged that Weinstein approached her while she was working on the 2004 movie Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights in Puerto Rico. She claims that she met Weinstein in his hotel room where he masturbated on top of her.
“The restrictive clauses that go along with these settlements are remarkable,” Twohey said in the podcast. “Women oftentimes can’t tell their husbands. They can’t tell their colleagues. If they want to see a therapist, the therapist has to sign a confidentiality clause.”
Twohey said the alleged Weinstein victim was breaking her settlement by talking to reporters. “She is deciding that she’s willing to face the legal risks because she feels that strongly about telling the world about what happened to her,” the reporter said.
New alleged victim of Harvey Weinstein, Natassia Malthe (L) and Attorney Gloria Allred speak during a press conference held at Lotte New York Palace at Lotte New York Palace on October 25, 2017 in New York City. (Mike Coppola/Getty Images)
Senator Hillary Clinton and Miramax boss Harvey Weinstein arrive at the Brooklyn Museum for the premiere of Miramax Films ‘Finding Neverland’ October 25, 2004 in New York City. (Evan Agostini/Getty Images)
Gloria Allred has promoted herself as a tireless defender of women and has taken on clients against Bill Cosby and the late Jeffrey Epstein.
In the Times podcast, the reporters also reveal that Matthau, the alleged victim, also claims that Allred warned her that she wouldn’t admit that her law firm had represented her in the case. Matthau also told the reporters that Allred’s firm took a 40 percent cut of the settlement.
It was only after the scale of Weinstein’s alleged misconduct became public in 2017 that Allred took a more public role, by holding press conferences and talking about the women she represented against Weinstein.
“I felt like she wanted basically all the media attention,” Matthau told the reporters. “Like it — once it became a big story, then she wanted to be a part of it. But when it was not in front of the cameras, it was something that she didn’t.”
Times reporters Kantor and Twohey recently published the book She Said, which delves into the scandal and the newspaper’s role in breaking it.
In an earlier podcast episode last week, the reporters discussed Allred’s daughter, feminist attorney Lisa Bloom.
She Said reveals that Bloom tried to discredit actress Rose McGowan, who has claimed that Weinstein assaulted her. The book says that Bloom, who briefly advised Weinstein after the scandal broke in 2017, offered to place articles in media outlets that would portray the Grindhouse actress as unstable.
“I feel equipped to help you handle the Roses of the world because I have represented so many of them,” Bloom wrote in a memo to Weinstein that is excerpted in the book.
Bloom later resigned from Weinstein’s team and has since apologized. McGowan has called for Bloom to be disbarred.
The evil that was perpetrated on me and others was mind bending and illegal. Lisa Bloom should be disbarred @yashar twitter.com/yashar/status/…
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Like her mother, Bloom has promoted herself as a defender of women’s causes and has represented women in sexual harassment cases.
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