Ashley Judd on Harvey Weinstein: ‘There’s Help for a Guy Like You’

Ashley Judd described the alleged sexual harassment by Harvey Weinstein, saying the former movie executive needed to get help for his “sick[ness],” on Good Morning America. 

“If he’s a rapist, he absolutely should go to jail,” Judd said, addressing allegations of sexual assault against Weinstein reported by The New Yorker. “What I would say to Harvey is, ‘I love you, and I understand that you are sick and suffering,'” Judd added. “There is help for a guy like you, too. It’s entirely up to you to get that help.” 

Judd’s alleged encounter with Weinstein was the lead in The New York Times article that broke the news of decades of claims of harassment against the film producer. The actress went into additional detail speaking with Sawyer: What Judd thought would be a breakfast meeting ended up taking place in Weinstein’s hotel room, where he asked her to pick out his suit and watch him shower. “He ignored my volley of no’s: Maybe he heard them as yes’s, maybe he heard them as maybe’s, maybe they turned him on,” Judd remembered. 

She invented a strategy to escape his room as quickly as possible. “Finally, I just said, ‘when I win an Oscar in one or your movies, ok?'” she recalled. “He said, ‘yeah, when you get nominated.’ I said, ‘no, when I win an Oscar.’ And then I just fled.” 

“Am I proud of that?” she continued. “I’m of two minds. The part that shames myself says no. The part of me that understands the way shame works says, ‘that was absolutely brilliant, good job kid, you got out of there, well done’ …We all do the best we can. Our best is good enough. It’s ok to have responded [to harassment] however we responded.”

Judd said she hopes that detailing her experiences with Weinstein will make it more acceptable for others to speak up about instances of sexual harassment or assault. “I keep thinking of someone in one of our towns in Kentucky who cannot come forward,” Sawyer said. (Both Sawyer and Judd hail from Kentucky.) “We’re doing this for her,” Judd replied. “If this isn’t her moment yet, we’re helping create the moment when she can [come forward].”