In an op-ed for The New York Times published Thursday, actress Lupita Nyong'o described several uncomfortable encounters she had with Harvey Weinstein, saying she's speaking up to "make certain that this is not the kind of misconduct that deserves a second chance."
Nyong'o said she first met Weinstein in 2011 while a student at the Yale School of Drama, and was warned he "could be a bully." He invited her to screen a movie at his Connecticut home, and he led her into his bedroom, where he said he wanted to give her a massage. "For the first time since I met him, I felt unsafe," she said. Nyong'o turned the tables and offered him a massage, because "it would allow me to be in control physically, to know exactly where his hands were at all times," she wrote. When he said he wanted to take off his pants, Nyong'o headed to the door. "I didn't quite know how to process the massage incident," she said. "I reasoned that it had been inappropriate and uncalled for, but not overtly sexual." Months later, he overtly propositioned her at dinner, and she said no.
After 12 Years a Slave came out in 2013, Weinstein approached Nyong'o and told her he had "treated me so badly in the past," she said. "He was ashamed of his actions and he promised to respect me moving forward. I said thank you and left it at that. But I made a quiet promise to myself to never ever work with Harvey Weinstein." Now that other women have come forward with Weinstein stories, Nyong'o said she can see there "is clearly power in numbers." While she wishes she had known then that she wasn't alone, Nyong'o is thankful for those who have shared their stories. "Now that we are speaking," she said, "let us never shut up about this kind of thing."
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