Paris Hilton has described a terrifying ordeal involving Harvey Weinstein, saying he followed her into a bathroom when she was 19.
Hilton’s recollection of the encounter in a Glamour UK cover story was published Thursday, on the day the disgraced producer was sentenced to 16 years in prison in a Los Angeles case.
Weinstein ― who is already serving 23 years after being convicted of rape and sexual assault in a New York trial ― was convicted of the rape and sexual assault of an Italian actor in 2013.
Weinstein plans to appeal both convictions, Variety reported.
Hilton told the publication that she was 19 when she met Weinstein before he hosted the amfAR (The Foundation for AIDS Research) gala that took place during the Cannes Film Festival in 2000.
She said Weinstein, who approached her and a friend while the two were at lunch, asked whether she had Hollywood aspirations and invited her up to his room to read scripts.
“I just didn’t want to go, so I never went,” Hilton said.
Later, on the night of the gala, Weinstein followed her to a restroom and screamed, “Ya wanna be a star?” Hilton said.
“I went into the bathroom and then he followed me,” she said.
“He tried to open the door, he was hammering on the door, banging on it. And I wouldn’t open it, because I was like, ‘I’m in a stall, why do you want to come in here?’ And I just wouldn’t open it. And security came and literally carried him away and he was like [shouting], ‘This is my party,’ going nuts. It scared me and freaked me out.”
She told the publication that she was aware of rumors about Weinstein’s behavior and “everyone was terrified of” him, then a producer with enormous power in Hollywood.
“I didn’t even want to say anything about it because I was like, ‘I don’t want people getting mad at me for saying anything,’ because it was just a known thing,” Hilton said.
“He was just like that and people were like, ‘OK, just turn a blind eye.’”
Glamour UK did not receive a comment from Weinstein’s representatives, but a spokesperson told Variety that Weinstein said the encounter “never happened” between him and Hilton.
“He had always treated Paris Hilton with the utmost respect and kindness, and always believed they had a cordial relationship. There were many people at AmFar, and this is probably false,” the spokesperson said.
“Unfortunately, Paris Hilton is trying to get in on the current news cycle using his name with yet another creative story. Too bad it’s all too convenient and seemingly popular to just say it without anything backing it up.”
The latest allegations against Weinstein come as Evgeniya Chernyshova, who testified that she was raped by Weinstein in the 2013 case, revealed that she was “Jane Doe 1” and said she “wants her life back” in a story by The Hollywood Reporter.
Chernyshova told the publication that she believes all of the four women who accused the disgraced producer of rape in the Los Angeles trial.
“This is not only my victory, this is our victory,” Chernyshova said of the conviction.
She later added: “I finally have a voice and I can speak. As much as I was trying to destroy myself, to punish myself, I will do as much to rebuild myself. And to help other people.”