Rose McGowan Wishes Former Manager Jill Messick ‘Peace’ Following Suicide
Rose McGowan offered her condolences to the family of Jill Messick, her former manager, who committed suicide last week – though the actress did not directly address allegations about her role in Messick’s death.
The Brave author shared an image of the sun rising over planet earth to her Instagram, along with a caption wishing Messick “peace” and “serenity.”
“For Jill,” the caption reads. “May your family find some measure of solace during this pain. That one man could cause so much damage is astounding, but tragically true. The bad man did this to us both. May you find peace on the astral plane. May you find serenity with the stars.”
McGowan’s nod to “the bad man” is a reference to Harvey Weinstein, whom she declines to call by name. In a statement the Messick family released following Jill’s death Wednesday, both Weinstein and McGowan are implicated as they describe Messick’s battle with bipolar disorder and her distraught mental and emotional state shortly before her death.
“Over the past few months, many women have come out with allegations against Harvey Weinstein, including Rose McGowan, who has repeatedly spoken with the press, striking out against not only her alleged attacker, but a great many others,” the statement reads in part. “One of them was Jill, who chose to remain silent in the face of Rose’s slanderous statements against her for fear of undermining the many individuals who came forward in truth.”
“Jill was victimized by our new culture of unlimited information sharing and a willingness to accept statement as fact,” the statement continues. “The speed of disseminating information has carried mistruths about Jill as a person, which she was unable and unwilling to challenge. She became collateral damage in an already horrific story.”
Messick was McGowan’s manager when the actress was allegedly raped by Weinstein. When she came forward with her accusations against Weinstein last fall, McGowan noted that she had told Messick about the incident.
More recently, Weinstein involved Messick in his own ongoing legal battle against McGowan’s accusations, with his attorney Ben Brafman releasing an email from Messick to Weinstein, in which Messick allegedly defends the disgraced producer.
Messick’s family claims that Jill in fact fought for McGowan by going to her superiors with the information, but had no part in the settlement that was eventually reached between Weinstein and McGowan.
“Jill believed in the Movement,” her family says. “She supported every woman finally coming forward to share their dark truths and expose those who had committed previously unspeakable deeds. She was loyal. She was strong. Jill was many things, but she was not a liar.”