As sexual harassment and assault allegations mount against film executive Harvey Weinstein, his wife, Marchesa designer Georgina Chapman, has announced she is leaving him.
The couple began dating in 2005 and wed in December 2007 at a star-studded ceremony. They share two children: India Pearl, 7, and Dashiell Max Robert, 4.
“My heart breaks for all the women who have suffered tremendous pain because of these unforgivable actions,” Chapman said in a statement to People magazine. “I have chosen to leave my husband. Caring for my young children is my first priority and I ask the media for privacy at this time.”
Chapman’s decision comes amid a whirlwind of disturbing claims against the Miramax and Weinstein Company co-founder, who has produced some of Hollywood’s most iconic films.
On Tuesday, Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie joined a growing list of actresses and other media insiders who say Weinstein made unsolicited sexual advancements on them earlier in their careers.
“I had a bad experience with Harvey Weinstein in my youth, and as a result, chose never to work with him again and warn others when they did,” Jolie told The New York Times in an email, saying the producer sexually harassed her in a hotel room. Paltrow recounted a similar experience.
The Times report on Tuesday was released just after The New Yorker published a devastating piece that detailed abuse allegations from 13 women interviewed by Ronan Farrow. In an audio recording, reportedly gathered during a 2015 New York Police Department sting operation, Weinstein can be heard pressuring one of the women, a model, to enter his hotel room.
Three of the women Farrow interviewed said Weinstein had raped them.
Weinstein had previously said Chapman was supporting him throughout the accusations, telling the New York Post last Thursday: “She stands 100 percent behind me. Georgina and I have talked about this at length.”
Weinstein also told the Post that Chapman and Lisa Bloom, then his legal adviser, were going to help him apologize for and correct his “bad behavior.”
“Georgina will be with Lisa [Bloom] and others kicking my ass to be a better human being and to apologize to people for my bad behavior, to say I’m sorry, and to absolutely mean it,” he told the Post.
Two days after Weinstein’s interview with the Post, Bloom resigned as his legal adviser.
The accusations in the New Yorker join those published Thursday by the Times, which was the first to thrust decades’ worth of rumored misbehavior into the spotlight. The publication said Weinstein had reached settlements with eight women who brought sexual harassment complaints against him. TV reporter Lauren Sivan then told HuffPost that Weinstein had once cornered her in a restaurant to masturbate in her presence.
According to People, Chapman and Weinstein stayed at a Los Angeles hotel as celebrities began speaking out against the alleged abuse. One source told the publication Chapman was “really mad” but “not even really at Harvey,” while another stated Weinstein’s actions can’t “just be forgotten, or forgiven,” noting the designer’s current focus on helping her company weather the storm.
Marchesa, known for its elaborate beading and embroidery, quickly took over the red carpet as Chapman began dating the Hollywood super-producer, counting celebrities Scarlett Johansson, Anne Hathaway and Penelope Cruz among its fans.
Read more at HuffPost
