These are all the celebrities who knew about Harvey Weinstein's treatment of women before it was reported in the press, according to Ronan Farrow's new book
- Journalist Ronan Farrow shared a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting on the now-disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein's sexual misconduct.
- In Farrow's new book, "Catch and Kill," he details his reporting process and uncovers new details about the tangled web protecting Weinstein along the way.
- Several Hollywood celebrities are among the people Farrow says knew and even worked to cover up allegations against Weinstein.
- Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.
In his new book "Catch and Kill," reporter Ronan Farrow details his reporting process in investigating Harvey Weinstein's treatment of women.
Farrow did eventually publish a damning amount of evidence against Weinstein in The New Yorker, shortly after the Times reporters Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor published other allegations against the Hollywood producer. The three shared a Pulitzer Prize for their reporting.
As Farrow first began to interview Weinstein's accusers, he said he soon found himself tangled up in a web of powerful, wealthy men across industries working to protect each other — sometimes with the help of powerful women, too.
Here are some of the main celebrity players in "Catch and Kill" who Farrow alleges knew about the allegations against Weinstein before members of the press were able to print the story and launch the #MeToo movement into the mainstream.
Ben Affleck
The actor Ben Affleck has worked with Weinstein on many projects, but has denied knowing the extent of his behavior toward women, saying only that he knew Weinstein was "sleazy and kind of a bully, but unfortunately that wasn't that uncommon."
But Rose McGowan, one of Weinstein's most prominent accusers, says otherwise.
In "Catch and Kill," McGowan told Farrow that in 1997, after McGowan attained early success in Weinstein-produced films like "Scream," and was working on another, "Phantoms," with Affleck, her business manager set up a meeting with Weinstein at a hotel restaurant. The meeting moved to Weinstein's hotel suite, and McGowan alleges Weinstein used his physical size to overpower her and rape her.
After the incident, McGowan told Farrow that she immediately encountered Affleck and that the actor saw her looking visibly distraught. McGowan says she told Affleck where she had just come from, and Affleck responded "God damn it, I told him to stop doing this."
McGowan has accused Affleck of lying about what he did and did not know. A representative for Affleck didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
Colin Firth
Weinstein distributed the film "The Advocate," starring Colin Firth, in the early '90s. An actress in the film, Sophie Dix, told Farrow that Weinstein invited her to his hotel room to view footage of the film, then pushed her onto the bed and tugged her clothes off. Dix said she fled into the hotel room's bathroom to hide, then opened the door to see Weinstein masturbating on the other side. She said she was able to escape when room service came to the door.
Dix told multiple people at the time of the incident what happened, and said friends and colleagues were sympathetic without actually taking action. Firth was one of the people Dix confided in about the "distressing encounter," and Firth later apologized for not doing anything about it.
"She told me she had had a distressing encounter with Harvey Weinstein," Firth told the Guardian in October 2017. "I don't think she went into all the horrific detail I've read in her interview. But I remember her being profoundly upset by it. To my shame, I merely expressed sympathy."
He continued: "I didn't act on what she told me. It was a long time ago and I don't know if she remembers telling me, but the fact that I had that conversation has come back to haunt me in the light of these revelations. It's the only direct account of this kind of behaviour by Harvey Weinstein that's ever been told to me."
Dix also said Rachel Weisz was one of her peers in the entertainment industry who encouraged her to come forward with her allegation.
Lena Dunham
Farrow wrote that actress and activist Lena Dunham knew about the allegations against Weinstein and warned then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's staff that the campaign should distance itself from him. Weinstein was a major donor of Clinton's, and when Farrow first started reporting on him, a publicist working for Weinstein even called him while standing outside one of Clinton's campaign events.
Dunham later disclosed that she told a Clinton communications staffer that "I just want to let you know that Harvey's a rapist and this is going to come out at some point." Dunham said she told multiple staffers on the Clinton campaign.
After the initial stories about Weinstein's predatory behavior were published, Clinton said she didn't know about the misconduct and that she would donate his campaign contributions to charity.
Susan Sarandon
Farrow talked to many Hollywood industry veterans to get their perspective on Weinstein as he continued his reporting. Some, including Meryl Streep, expressed shock at the allegations.
He alleges that others, like actress Susan Sarandon, knew about the rumors that had been swirling around Weinstein for decades. When Farrow told Sarandon he was pursuing the story, he said she told him, "Oh, Ronan. You're gonna be in trouble."
A representative for Sarandon didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
Brett Ratner
Other Hollywood industry leaders Farrow talked to didn't keep quiet about the subject of his investigation — in the case of director-producer Brett Ratner, it may have been because he also had something to hide, Farrow wrote.
When Farrow talked to Ratner, he said Ratner told him that he may know of a woman who had a bad experience with Weinstein, but Farrow noted that he sounded jittery.
Also, despite Ratner saying he wouldn't tell Weinstein about his conversation with Farrow, he reportedly called Weinstein soon after and told him anyways.
Six women later accused Ratner of sexual harassment. A representative for Ratner didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
Donna Gigliotti
Producer Donna Gigliotti worked with Weinstein on projects like "Shakespeare in Love".
Farrow said she discouraged him from working on the story, telling him Weinstein "isn't guilty of anything worse than what a million other men in this business do," and said she had heard things, but not seen things herself.
Later, she told Farrow that documents existed that showed Weinstein never admitted to sexual misconduct, assault, or rape, but did show he paid large sums of money to victims. She told Farrow she could maybe talk if he found the documents, and gave him the names of former employees who had been in the London area during the era Farrow was investigating at that time.
Farrow ended up finding out more details connected to Gigliotti. He wrote that her former assistant had done a lot of work for Weinstein, who would often appear around her naked or in his underwear and try to pull her into bed. The former assistant also said she was tasked with bringing aspiring actresses and models to Weinstein, buying condoms for him, and cleaning up hotel rooms after he met with the young women, according to Farrow.
That assistant also intercepted Weinstein at the Venice Film Festival in 1998 after a different assistant emerged from his hotel room crying and saying he had sexually assaulted her in their first alone face-to-face encounter, Farrow wrote. Gigliotti's assistant, Zelda Perkins, confronted Weinstein, who denied it, and then notified Gigliotti, who gave her a referral to an employment attorney. The assistants pursued legal action and eventually split a settlement.
A representative for Gigliotti didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
"When Zelda told me what happened to her colleague, I was horrified," Gigliotti told The New York Times in 2017. "Once I was sure she had good independent counsel, I thought it best to let her lawyer determine how to approach and deal with Harvey. I did what I thought was best for Zelda."
Gigliotti didn't work with Weinstein for years after the incident, but became the president of production in 2010 before leaving a year later, according to The Times.
Quentin Tarantino
Actress Mira Sorvino was one of the people who told Farrow that Weinstein had sexually harassed her over the years that they worked together. At the 1995 Toronto International Film Festival, Sorvino told Farrow that she was alone in a hotel room with Weinstein when he started to massage her shoulders and then tried to kiss her. Later, she said, he showed up at her apartment and she told him her boyfriend was on his way, so he left.
Sorvino felt that Weinstein retaliated after she rejected his advances, but felt that her then-relationship with director Quentin Tarantino shielded her, at least until they stopped dating.
Tarantino has since publicly said that he could have and should have done more, knowing at least some of Weinstein's behavior.
"I knew enough to do more than I did," Tarantino later told The New York Times. "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."
He continued: "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."
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