Ashley Judd Speaks Out

Ashley Judd appeared on ABC‘s Good Morning America Tuesday to discuss her lawsuit against disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein. In her lawsuit, Judd claims Weinstein defamed, sexually harassed and attempted to damage her career.

“I lost opportunity, I lost money, I lost status and prestige and power in my career as a direct result of having been sexually harassed and rebuffing the sexual harassment,” she told Amy Robach.

• The law firm Gibson Dunn filed the suit, which centers on the Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson‘s December 2017 comments to Stuff in which he said Weinstein discouraged him from hiring Judd or Mira Sorvino.
• The suit states: “Weinstein torpedoed Ms. Judd’s incredible professional opportunity when he told (them) that the studio had had a ‘bad experience’ with Ms. Judd, and that Ms. Judd was a ‘nightmare’ to work with and should be avoided ‘at all costs.’ “
• Weinstein forced Jackson to remove her from the casting list (Weinstein’s company owned the rights to the LOTR films) after she rejected him, the suit claims.
• The lawsuit adds that Judd learned only late last year “that something unseen was holding her back from obtaining the work she wanted, and had been doing so for decades. The headwind limiting her career was Harvey Weinstein, and specifically, the false and malicious statements he made regarding Ms. Judd’s professionalism as an actor” to Jackson.
• Weinstein’s spokesman issued a statement to USA Today rejecting Judd’s claims: “The most basic investigation of the facts will reveal that Mr. Weinstein neither defamed Ms. Judd nor ever interfered with Ms. Judd’s career, and instead not only championed her work but also repeatedly approved her casting for two of his movies over the next decade. The actual facts will show that Mr. Weinstein was widely known for having fought for Ms. Judd as his first choice for the lead role in Good Will Hunting and, in fact, arranged for Ms. Judd to fly to New York to be considered for the role. Thereafter, Ms. Judd was hired for not one, but two of Mr. Weinstein’s movies, Frida in 2002 and Crossing Over with Harrison Ford in 2009. We look forward to a vigorous defense of these claims.”
• Judd has said that any money she earns from the lawsuit will be donated to causes fighting for women’s rights.