Blake Lively on Harvey Weinstein: I never heard any stories like this

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Much like Gretchen Mol, there were a lot of sneers, blind items and assumptions about Blake Lively’s relationship with Harvey Weinstein, and whether or not it was any way transactional. Blake wore Marchesa to several high-profile events over the years, which was always thought of as a way for a young actress to try to suck up to Weinstein (I know that’s a gross way of saying it, but it’s true). But really, Blake has never done a movie produced by Weinstein. They’ve participated in some events together – like a White House panel discussion/workshop in 2013 – but no one ever really knew what their relationship was behind-the-scenes. Many were expecting Blake to speak about Weinstein at some point, although AGAIN no one has to speak about Weinstein if they don’t want to. Blake agreed to take questions about Weinstein during a THR interview to promote her latest film, All I See Is You. When I say “take questions,” I mean… well, this sounds like she was given a statement to read and THR just transcribed it or something. Anyway, Blake never knew or heard about any of these stories.

“That was never my experience with Harvey in any way whatsoever, and I think that if people heard these stories … I do believe in humanity enough to think that this wouldn’t have just continued. I never heard any stories like this — I never heard anything specific — but it’s devastating to hear.”

“The number one thing that can happen is that people who share their stories, people have to listen to them and trust them, and people have to take it seriously. As important as it is to remain furious about this, it’s important to also say that this exists everywhere so remember to look everywhere. This isn’t a single incident. This cannot happen, this should not happen, and it happens in every single industry.”

“It happens to women all over the place, all the time, to the point where women don’t even think that this is a real assault. I’ve had plenty of things happen to me whether it be trying on a dress for prom at some clothing store, to a director being inappropriate, to a guy walking down the street where you don’t think, ‘Oh well, that wasn’t actually sexual assault — this guy just, like, grabbed my butt.’ It’s important that women are furious right now. It’s important that there is an uprising. It’s important that we don’t stand for this and that we don’t focus on one or two or three or four stories, it’s important that we focus on humanity in general and say, ‘This is unacceptable.'”

[From THR]

If we’re believing George Clooney, Glenn Close and Meryl Streep when they say they had no idea, I guess we should believe Blake when she says “I never heard any stories like this.” I like the caveat there though, because that tells a different story altogether: “I never heard any stories like this — I never heard anything specific…” Meaning, of course she heard *some* stories. Of course she heard that he believes in transactional relationships. Of course she heard that you should not go to his hotel room under any circumstance. But it seems like a wide swath of Hollywood was just like “Oh, that’s just Harvey being Harvey.” I also like what she says about women not even being able to process assault and harassment when it happens. That’s very true. There are so many instances where I look back days and weeks and even years later and I think, “Sh-t, what that guy did was so inappropriate” or “why did he feel he had the right to touch me?”

Also: in a separate interview, Blake talked about an experience she had making a film, and experiencing some really scary harassment from a male makeup artist. She repeatedly went to producers to ask them to intervene and they did nothing. The guy even filmed her as she slept. YIKES.

PS… Is it possible that she just, like, genuinely thought Marchesa gowns were pretty and stylish?? *mind blown*

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Photos courtesy of Getty.

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