Asia Argento has been one of Harvey Weinstein’s most high-profile accusers and victims. Argento was one of the first women to tell her story to Ronan Farrow in detail, not as an anonymous source, but with her name attached. Weinstein raped her in a European hotel and after Farrow’s reports came out, Argento was blasted by the Italian tabloids and basically had to leave her home. As it turns out, the entire time she was telling her story of victimhood, she was withholding a different story, a story about the time she raped a 17-year-old boy.
Asia Argento, a #MeToo activist and one of Harvey Weinstein‘s most high-profile accusers, agreed to pay $380,000 to her own accuser, according to a bombshell report by The New York Times. Citing documents sent to the newspaper anonymously and verified with three people familiar with the case, the report says that in the months after her allegations against Weinstein last October, the 42-year-old Italian actress reached a financial settlement with Jimmy Bennett, who once played Argento’s son in 2004’s The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things. (Argento also directed and co-wrote the film.)
The actor and musician, now 22, claimed that in 2013, then-37-year-old Argento sexually assaulted Bennett in a California hotel room two months after he turned 17, the report says. (In California, 18 is the age of consent.) Bennett claimed in the documents that Argento kissed him before performing oral sex on him and engaging in intercourse at the Ritz-Carlton in Marina del Rey, California, according to the Times.
An agent for Argento did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment, and the Times says Argento and her reps did not respond to multiple requests leading up to the story’s publication on Sunday.
Reps for Bennett did not respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment. Though he declined an interview with the Times, the outlet reports that Gordon K. Sattro, Bennett’s attorney, told the newspaper, “In the coming days Jimmy will continue doing what he has been doing over the past months and years, focusing on his music.”
Argento’s late boyfriend, Anthony Bourdain — who died of suicide on June 8 — “helped Ms. Argento navigate the matter,” the Times reports, though additional details about his involvement were not available.
To me, Asia Argento and Rose McGowan’s friendship has always made sense because there was always a vein of performance to what they were doing, and an off-putting sense of “I am the only one who knows this deep pain.” Which isn’t to say that any victim is perfect, and we need to get out this “perfect victim” mentality. I believe Asia was victimized by Weinstein and I believe she terribly abused a teenage boy. Both things can be true and are true in this case. I also believe she had no business putting herself out there as a #MeToo advocate or activist – she knew her own abusive past would eventually come back to haunt her, and that when the information came out, her association with the movement would hurt the movement. The amount of cognitive dissonance here is astounding and pathetic.
Breaking News: Asia Argento, a leading voice of #MeToo, arranged to pay an actor after he claimed she sexually assaulted him when he was 17, documents show.https://t.co/ptgVHlX9qM
— The New York Times (@nytimes) August 20, 2018
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Oh wow. Talk about an own goal behavioural wise.
Let me just say a big Thank You for writing this, Kaiser, as you have. I have already seen so many try to equivocate this story, or otherwise try to diminish it. I am glad I can come here and see none of that. While taking nothing away from female victims of abuse, it is heartening to see support for male victims, and victims in general. I always know I can come to this site for intelligent and thoughtful coverage of this stuff (which is sadly, a rarity sometimes).
Did anybody else immediately also think of Anthony Bourdain and how this perhaps impacted him? It says he helped her “navigate the matter” but that is so vague.
Also, to your point about why she involved herself in MeToo, given her own past? I’d bet money that she genuinely doesn’t see herself as an abuser. She probably figured that she gave this young man a “fantasy” or something – she probably never even thought that he may not want it. And in that sense, she’s exactly like other predators – a narcissist who can’t possibly believe ANYONE would turn them down.
@SamThePink Excellent and incisive comment. While we can be feminists and condemn the hierarchical system that has been complicit in centuries of subjugation, we should never claim “female=victim=pure=unaccountable”. That boy, and the many men who are not only victims of vile and predatory women but the same hierarchical system that demands they should suffer in silence, deserve equal love and compassion. Because, despite biological disparities, we are all human.
In general, most feminists I know are pretty quick to believe victims, including male victims. Most resistance comes from those who buy into very old gender stereotypes – that males are perpetually horny and no man will ever turn down a woman, and that he should be grateful if a conventionally attractive woman expresses interest, and if he turns her down, he must be gay. That’s the worst attitude. I’ve already seen it in reference to this young man. Most feminists I know are appalled by this and get instantly that this man is a victim.
@Sam the Pink: Great point. There’s always been this message pushed that straight men and boys are uncontrollably sexual, that they just can’t hold back from doing bad things when faced with the female body, and that they’re always on the prowl. “Boys will be boys” has so many harmful, toxic effects on how girls and women are treated by society, and it also seems to have harmful effects on how boys and men can be treated when reporting sexual abuse.
Sadly the whole idea of the older woman fantasy seems to always be used against teenage boys like the should some how be happy about it rather than viewing as it is which is abuse what makes this story works is he was incredibly young when they met i hope this hasn’t been realised without his permission though it seems it may be the case as it was leaked to a newspaper and he didnt come out and say it himself
I immediately thought of Bourdain because his death greatly disturbs me. After he died, some people were blaming her, which is ridiculous, but it adds a new layer of sadness to the situation.
@FHMOM – I did the same. Bourdain came to my mind and his suicide. There are so many layers here that we may never know and understand.
Great comment, and thank you, Kaisar.
Yes, my thoughts keep returning to Anthony Bourdain too. I think there is a lot more about the Asia/Anthony relationship that we’ll never know. Sadly, it has likely been buried with him. Reports from some of his friends said he was “besotted” with her. And then we see her laughing and smooching it up with Hugo Clement days before Anthony took his life. Something is off about the whole story. I never bought her statement, after he died, that she was unaware of his suicidal inclinations. I really liked and admired Bourdain. He had the rough exterior but very fragile and old soul.
I commented on this earlier, but I’ve been thinking about it all day. I really don’t think that she felt guilty about sexually abusing that young man AT ALL. I think she’s practiced the motto, “Do As Thou Will,”
for a very long time. It was only when HER personal boundaries were breached (aka Weinstein)that she complained. I choose to believe, still, that she’s a rape victim. But this boy equally a victim.
As a mother of boys, I HATE the whole, “Oh, she’s a sexy, older woman who did a that boy a solid by initiating sex.” No way. Children are children, female or male. She needs to be punished.
Yes, Sam the Pink, I agree. Kaiser’s sense of justice is right on the mark here.
There were rumors of Asia seeing another man, heck there are pictures of them together when she was with Anthony. Maybe she told him about the payout as well on top of it? It doesn’t make her guilty however of Bourdains suicide. His relationship with Asia was one of many many things accumulated that pushed him toward it, maybe. Sometimes it take a lifelong build of pain that leads to suicide.
Her speech at Cannes calling out perpetrators of sexual violence sitting in the crowd looks pretty ridiculous now, since she was one of those very perpetrators.
Nothing about Argento’s revolting actions, however, changes what Harvey Weinstein did. He belongs in prison.
I read she let her reporter boyfriend Hugo Clement (the one she was photographed with a few days before Anthony Bourdain’s death) post her speech video on social media. She clearly used the movement to promote herself.
Wait, she is w/Clement now? This makes me sad as that Insta prior to Bourdain’s death was of the two of them together and some cryptic caption. I hate to think a “broken heart” might have played a part in Bourdain’s death. I am still, strangely, sad over it. Was in Key Wet recently and went to the Bodega we found by his recommendation and I felt a bit unsettled while there.
Nope, Clement is with a Miss France now 😉
Yes, we can’t let the actions of a hypocrite undermine a movement that is so important and was so very long overdue.
Disgusting. She groomed him. And their mother-son dynamic… sick.
She played his mother and acted as his mentor when he was 7 years old. Ten years later she sexually assaults him. I find her to be repulsive to say the very least.
Omg, she groomed him from a young age and raped him at 17. Will there be charges? The statute of limitations isn’t up yet.
If all is proven to be true, I hope so. It’s hard to wrap your head around this one. She so openly went after her attacker, did she not see herself as such since she loved this boy. I can live to be 100 and will never ever understand how an adult can first take advantage of a child emotionally and then later physically. WTF, book her Dano.
The #Metoo movement has faced so many backlashes from toxic people trying to undermine it, to brush it off as feminine drama and exaggeration that this just adds to it, harming its credibility. I can already hear the trolls “how can her assault be so bad if she did to someone else too”.
Truth is I think she was hoping this wouldn’t get out, as in a patriarch mindset. As hard as it is for women to come forward about their abuse, men abuse by women also have a really difficult fight to be heard and be taken seriously. Their trauma isn’t “that bad” for most men/women with that mindset would just brush it off as “why are you complaining? You got to have sex with an older, attractive woman. How could she force you to have an erection if you didn’t want to? Stop being such a girl”
Yes, she and Rose Mcgowan are victims, but they are both a**holes too, and Asia is also a pathetic abuser.
Agreed. It was so shocking to read about this last night, but I completely believe him. This is sad. Asia Argento is a disgusting human being- for what she did to this boy, for centering her own victimhood despite knowing that she abused a teenager, and for giving misogynists a new reason to discredit other women victimized by industry predators.
She was 20 years older than that poor guy, she was his boss, and it was in hotel. It’s weird that she did pretty much exactly the same kind of sexual assault as HW. Did both these incidents happen at around the same time? Not that it makes much difference, but I’d be curious to know.
She was the boss of the boy she abused ten years earlier than the abuse happened. She was “friends” with him since 2004, when they filmed the movie and abused him in 2014.
Weinstein raped her before all of that, if I remember correctly, when she was 21.
Oh you’re right, I didn’t realise that she wasn’t working with him when she abused him. Woah…that is crazy to do that to someone she worked with when he was 7. Yuck.
What is worse is that she knows him because he played her son in a film she wrote and directed. He was only 7 when they filmed it and his character was neglected and sexually abused; it was a major and very difficult role. I can’t imagine how much the whole situation confused and traumatised the boy, 17 is above the age of consent in my country, but not in a teacher/pupil scenario and this certainly falls into a similar category to me.
Good lord. This story is awful.
Oh god that makes this even worse 🙁
She knew exactly what it was like to be taken advantage of by someome who is in a position of power over you and still did this. Yes, she’s a victim of HW but she is also a predator and should be treated as such.
This article and the comments thus far are on point. And so heartening. We cannot excuse or condone abuse even when the abuser is a
woman.
Yes. We have to be better than the Catholic Church.
the only thing I can say is: I am sorry for her daughter.
Yes her daughter who’s 16 which has a very talented dad but sadly lost in coke free basing and a crazy mom.She’s beautiful though.
I agree, Jan. I’ve been pleased to see this. I think it is clear that #MeToo has to be about more than figureheads of the movement. The fact that some are using Argento to discredit #MeToo is upsetting. She is a special kind of myopic to not see how she herself was an abuser and not just a victim.
We should question why men who commit statutory rape like Johnny Depp, Brad Pitt and Paul Walker (his estate) haven’t paid out any settlements though…& why their peers haven’t distanced themselves from them. They were all in relationships with 16/17 year olds as adult men (Winona Ryder, Juliette Lewis, Jasmine Pilchard) and are still well connected and successful. Asia is going to go down for this & has already been held to account civilly while Brad Pitt is still everyone’s darling (Johnny’s fall from grace has nothing to do with Winona).
Many of the men who are going out to come out & condemn her are the same ones who consider a 17 yr old bordering on 18 “a gray area”, especially if she’s “mature”. They don’t care about what happened, they care about weakening the movement… even though it’s literally done nothing but give women a space & room to vent – virtually no one’s been held account, even the worst of the worst…not even civilly, some not even socially.
But isn’t this guy saying he was taken advantage of or pressured into doing it? Those men and women you mentioned were in consenting relationships, 17 is the legal age of consent in a lot of places. I get what you are saying about it being a gray area. At 17, I was living away from my parents going to college, my birthday is very late in the year. I had a serious boyfriend who is still my partner to this day, had a job and was going to school. I certainly wasn’t a child, but the same can’t be said for everybody
Is that how you determine whether or not it’s statutory rape? If the victim felt taken advantage of, irrespective of whether they were or not they were? The age of consent in California is 18, the same rules apply whether you sleep with the same teenager dozens of times or as a one off.
I would guess that the man in this case felt the same way Winona, Juliette & Jasmine felt and apparently still feel about their teenage encounters, that if anything, at worst, it was a bit inappropriate but not rape. Rose herself was a victim of statutory rape and reserves a particular, distinct hatred for Weinstein – she doesn’t consider them the same. I would guess the victim felt this way until someone powerful with their agenda got involved.
The facts so far are that he was underaged & received a fraction of what he was asking for in damages. He chose not to pursue this through the criminal court & claimed Asia hurt his career but that isn’t verified. When women seek redress via settlements they’re treated with suspicion & criticized. Yet Rose’s decision to do that, really any of Harvey’s victims, makes sense. He was extremely powerful, well connected and wealthy (still clearly is) – they were up against Harvey Weinstein Inc. Asia doesn’t have the same power or pull or track record. Women who have sex with underaged boys are actually successfully taken through the criminal court (unlike male actors & directors no matter how many times they rape) and the process is much less hazardous for them when the perpetrators are women. They don’t receive anywhere near the same level of vitriol girls do, (from men or women), nor are they directly or indirectly accused of ruining lives by news anchors.
You can be a victim & not feel like one. You can be a victim and be primarily motivated by money. I believe Asia’s victim falls into this category. I believe all the signs are there that he collaborated with Harvey Weinstein, a sadistic psychopath & serial rapist of the worst kind on a campaign to clear his name & undermine victims.
He is nonetheless still a victim and so are all the other women I mentioned, but if Juliette Lewis came out now to file a suit against Brad Pitt, despite everyone being knowing he slept with her as a teenager, she’d go through the same hell Amber Heard went through simply for reporting DV- “why now?” “she’s bitter” “she’s after his money” “poor Brad”…
What are you talking about Banger ?!!
Winona and Juliette and Jasmine were in a relationship, they were willing and happy to be with them ! The younger actor did not want to sleep with Asia ! That is the BIG difference ! Consent !
Yes she is a victim and an abuser – often those who have been abused turn into abusers and am not saying that to diminish Jimmy’s story, I believe him and wish him a full and healthy life and I hope that he got the professional help he needs to heal just as she needs professional help to understand her behaviour is/was wrong.
Please don’t flame me.
I’m not going to flame you, except to point out that I think there is a lot of research to show that the idea that abused children often go on to become abusers is a misnomer. I don’t know the exact percentage, but I thimk it is quite small.
I heard an ex FBI criminal profiler talking about it on a podcast a fee months ago, and he got quite heated about it, because it is quite insulting to victims (most of whom have an absolute abhorrence of this type of abuse, because they know what it does to kids).
Ok, just looked it up….in one study, 35% of male perpetrators reported being victims, but only around 2% of women. So, there is a correlation for men, but not for women.
Not true…many people who were victims in their childhood become abusers after..it is true. It is a way to ‘get even’ and to not feel a victim anymore, this time you have the “power” over someone, you are not the powerless anymore..sad but pretty common.
Mariposa, you are correct, and the misconception extends to all kinds of abuse.
The problem is this: You can look at correlations going forward in time (prospectively) or going backward in time (retrospectively).
I think that retrospective studies of jailed perpetrators of violent crimes found a fairly high percentage of violence in their childhoods.
However, prospective studies show that only a minority of the abused go on to become abusive themselves. Most make a concerted effort to do better.
The focus needs to be on preventing childhood victims of violence, including domestic violence, from being violent in adulthood — what is it about that subset of children, and their social worlds, that results in their becoming criminally violent later on? Just as important, what are the factors that prevent the childhood victims from becoming violent, and keep them peaceful and non-violent? Because those factors work for a majority of victims and we need to get them in place.
Right now though, the gross misunderstanding of how it works results in abuse survivors remaining silent and thus not getting more of the social support and sympathy and JUSTICE that they need and deserve, because people generally “assume” that they can be or have been bad parents or partners themselves.
It’s very hard to explain how this works to people who think they know better than someone who actually knows the research. And survivors are not viewed as experts, even though they’ve been closest to the experience and have the strongest right to speak out.
This. While a much higher than average percentage of ABUSERS were also abused in their past, that does NOT mean that most or even a statistically higher portion than average of the abused become abusers.
To put it more bluntly…Abusers being victims of abuse ≠ most victims become abusers
She needs prison time not therapy to understand what she did was wrong. And it’s disgusting to claim victims are often abusers themselves as if that should forgive their actions. Victims often become the biggest advocates for children, full stop.
Victims often become the biggest advocates for children, full stop.
Thank you for posting this. I agree 100%.
The stats say 1 in 8 males grow up to abuse. I don’t know the stats on female abuse victims.
It sucks that this gives the anti #metoo crowd ammunition. But that doesn’t mean that we should excuse Asia’s behavior.
On a slightly different topic, I’m surprised that this was not discovered earlier. I can’t believe someone didn’t bring this out of the height of the movement to discredit Asia. I wonder what took so long?
I’m a little concerned that Harvey himself has something to do with this and that this might be part of his plan to rehab his image and get back into Hollywood’s good graces.
Apparently she refused to make him sign an NDA, which she previously said was used to silence victims. That is some consistency at least.
I mean, an NDA would have been pretty useless. They can’t legally cover illegal behaviour, so in this situation an NDA is more of an intimidation tactic, and Argento isn’t intimidating in the way someone like Weinstein is.
Better to not have the kid sign one and gaslight him into thinking you’re doing him a favour and putting your trust in him.
From the NY Times it said that its not enforceable when it comes to sex crimes. So this isnt her being good at all.
Here is the quote:
“The agreement does not prevent either party from discussing it. In the letter, Ms. Goldberg explained that California law does not allow nondisclosure agreements in civil contracts involving the types of allegations made by Mr. Bennett.
One alternative, Ms. Goldberg wrote, would be to work around the California law by using New York lawyers and arguing that the laws of New York govern the agreement.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/19/us/asia-argento-assault-jimmy-bennett.html
So they even tried to work around it.
I hope this young man has support and healing in his life, and I hope he was consulted before he was named publicly as a survivor of sexual assault.
Nothing to say about her, she is not worth a comment.
https://www.rainn.org/ for anyone needing support.
https://1in6.org/
Revolting.
I’m so disappointed in her, and, truthfully… with Bourdain for helping her to legally bury this story. I am proud of her victim for sharing his truth. It couldn’t have been easy in light of Argento’s status as a #metoo torchbearer. I hope that they thoroughly investigate this young man’s claims. If these allegations are proven true, she’s child rapist and deserves prison time.
I haven’t read anyone claim Bourdain helped her cover up her crime or story.
Where did you get that information?
Ah. Edited to add I see it now from people magazine.
Personally, I’m going to need to see a metric ass ton of prof Anthony conspired to cover up a crime and the story before I entertain that idea.
I wish to god Bourdain never met this piece of shite. This is all so psychotic
It seems he helped her connect with and possibly paid for her lawyers (who were his long-time lawyers). However she could have made up something about why she needed legal help, and his lawyers couldn’t (or at least shouldn’t) have told him anything. So it’s posdible he didn’t know, or didn’t know the whole story.
I bet Weinstein’s people leaked that to the NYT in an effort to discredit her as a victim.
We’ll never know. But I’m glad she was outed.
I hope he saw this coming and told the story himself. Do we know if he was aware this was coming out? If not, how are they justifying naming him?
Especially given that he was a child
It is weird that this was all sent to The NY Times anonymously.
So you would rather this was all kept quiet and out of the public eye to protect her reputation?
I’m glad it came out. I’m trying to say, they leaked this, knowing people would think, how can she be a victim, if she is an abuser? But both can be true
The problem is Rose, Asia & Alyssa Milano coopted the #metoo movement. All three actresses & yes it’s appears to be performative to anyone who is a survivor of sexual assault. I understand that both Rose & Asia were assaulted, that’s there’s no really “perfect victim,” & a small percentage of assault victims go on to repeat it but there’s no excuse for being an a$$hole. And assaulting another person? Asia needs to take a seat, right now. I have to call it like I see it. These two should not be and are not the spokeswomen for the movement. Yes, they’re victims but it’s Tarana Burke’s. And Alyssa…the #metoo movement was started in 2006 by an activist named Tarana. I didn’t see her give Tarana credit. If she did, then I’m mistaken.
I’m so glad to see you mention Tarana. This is her movement and her voice. She has been doing the work for years. But, I’m not surprised to see it taken over by white women.
And Tarana tweeted about this news. It’s worth reading the thread.
https://twitter.com/TaranaBurke/status/1031498206260150272
I’m white & it didn’t surprise me either. I’m a survivor of rape, myself. I agree with Kaiser that it felt like both Rose & Asia were performative with their experiences. I also agree with Tarana’s Twitter thread, too. We have a lot of work to do. My point is that many people are survivors of assault. Many. They don’t victimize others. It’s no excuse. There’s something troubling about Asia and she needs to examine that. Rose has a deep seated anger that I doubt she’s seeking therapy for. It’s dangerous. Therapy is needed and crucial to move forward. You don’t really recover but you can move towards peace. And it’s obvious neither one sought it and use it for performative purposes..but that’s not helping anyone.
Alyssa has given Tarana credit for starting the movement many, many times and has even appeared in interviews with her.
Alyssa’s husband is an agent for the agency that reps many of the accused men. Amber Tamblyn’s husband has been accused of sexual assault. I think there are ulterior motives for both women and their super big voices in the movement.
There is no one type of victim, there is no one type of abuser. She should have been honest.
MTE, victims can be abusers and vice versa
She should have not raped. She should have not used a marketed movement for rape survivors knowing that she’s a rapist herself.
The abuse begets abuse quote being tossed about is extremely worrisome.
Being raped at 21 as she said she was isn’t in the same vicinity of a child who is abused through their formative years who takes on abusive characteristics through learned behavior. That’s a different beast all together.
For example, there aren’t scores of women who have been raped by a stranger who are in turn out raping men in dark alleys. It’s not like getting bit by a vampire.
Because of this story.People need tp believe and listen that women can be pedo and abusers.
People need to listen Moses Farrow and Corey Feldman too.
Rest my case.
I”m wondering what Anthony knew? He supported her and then story comes out
I wonder what he knew too but we’ll sadly never know. I would have been very interested to hear his take on this but at the same time I’m kind of glad he isn’t around for any of this so he doesn’t have to become part of the story.
I don’t trust anything Asia would say regarding the matter as we all now know she has no trouble being a hypocrite, becoming one of the most vocal supporters of Me Too while this skeleton was lying in her closet. I don’t disbelieve Asia when it comes to Weinstein but it makes it very hard to believe her about anything else. No, there isn’t any perfect victim but I can’t understand why she’d become one of the most active proponents of Me Too when she knew this would probably come to light someday. Women going after underage boys happens more often than you’d think–all you have to do is look up stories of female teachers seducing their young male students (Mary Kay Letourneau being the infamous example), there are plenty of examples. I hope this young man has been able to move on with his life and I hope he can heal.
What is bothersome and Anthony did know about it, she was photoed with a younger man before his death and it was in tabloids all over the internet. Affectionate pictures with a young man a few weeks before Anthony killed himself, a young man similar to Anthony. Suspect Anthony had deep lifelong depression and if he knew about the payout and on-top of her being papped with another young man, well….there you go. In no way should we blame anyone for another persons suicide but sometimes things tip people over after they have been thinking about it for sometime.
She has since claimed it was ANTHONY who paid off the kid and that is was all his idea. Cowardly and disgusting of Asia to blame her dead boyfriend.
This woman is just insane and toxic. That doesnt mean she isnt a victim, but wow, now an abuser too.
I think she’s always been an awful person. I don’t “blame” her for Bourdain’a suicide because frankly, if he had been emotionally and mentally healthy, he would have ran like the wind when he saw this one coming his way.
Whenever a movement really gains momentum, opportunists and attention ho’s attempt to wrestle control of it, and often succeed. Same with the women’s march. I’ve seen it happen over and over. None of this means Harvey didn’t rape her. We know he’s a rapist. But it is why I never paid attention to her.
I have always felt there was something off about Asia Argento – just a vibe. Like Joana I hope this pedo business in Hollywood that we’re hearing about gets blown wide open too.
I started following her after Anthony Bourdain’s death and I was so disturbed by her stories and posts that I quickly unfollowed her. Her content seemed so callous, or at the very least thoughtless, when AB has a child mourning the loss of their father. I thought maybe she was grieving differently than I would choose to grieve so tried to not pass judgement. Her content was not for me so I moved on. Last night I went back through her IG posts to May of 2013. The way she describes this KID is just awful and sick. Like a woman waiting for her lover. I can’t imagibe talking this way about a teenager under the age of consent, let alone someone I’d known when they were a small child and I was an adult in a position of power. Sick.
I originally thought this must have been a planted story by Weinstein (and I think it’s a true story), but it was pointed out in the NY Times comment section that the reporter most often writes about food/restaurants/chefs, so I believe her sources came from Bourdaine’s friends. That poor guy. Everyone is traumatized, but he’s dead.
The sad truth is that victims not in recovery will often become perpetrators.
This is why male voices also need to be heard in the #MeToo movement.
See above for comment on the difference between prospective and retrospective correlations. We can’t say “often” with any justification; it’s just another way to smear victims as somehow complicit.
The use of the term “in recovery” for victims healing may be a little off, as well. Being victimized is not a choice nor an addiction. I’m not sure people who were beaten and/or sexually assaulted see themselves quite along these lines. They seek to heal from an overwhelming trauma inflicted on them by another person; there are differences from having a biological dependency on an addicting substance.
The overwhelming lack of Justice is one of the major differences.
Ignorant comments that they’ll “go on” to do it themselves is another.
Abuse is an interpersonal crime that involves an imbalance of power. Without justice, without restitution, and without admiration for the survivor’s guts and tenacity, actual “recovery” or full “healing” are difficult and continue to make this situation unique (and uniquely different from addiction recovery). As well, we need to understand that suffering from interpersonal violence (which is violent crime) does not make one “mentally ill” any more than suffering a cold from catching the cold virus makes someone tubercular.
This is all to stay separate and apart from this Argento situation, but I’m trying to say that her history may or may not all connect these dots, and that she may also not be representative.
Oh really? Keep making blanket statements like that.
Victims often become the biggest advocates for children. Where do you get your information? Just because some rapist’s defense attorney said so doesn’t make it true. Argento knew all about rape and imbalance of power from her experiences and she assaulted this child anyway. She knew it was wrong when it was done to her but she thinks she’s special and what she did wasn’t wrong in the same way. There’s something wrong with her period. It has nothing to do with her assault by HW.
Kind of sick of the narrative around this being “nobody is a perfect victim,” and “this doesn’t negate her experience as a rape victim,” because that’s the focus, instead of the focus being she took advantage of a very young person and she did it so confidently that she herself could be a multiple rapist. Like this there is never just the one. On Jezebel, someone said, “okay, this is bad, but she is still a victim herself and she isn’t as bad as Weinstein and this is just one versus many and abuse begets abuse.” Like, no.
And not to negate her experience with Weinstein because many victims can be raped by their significant other and be in relationships with their abuser, but ultimately her experience with Weinstein is more about the power he enforced with women that were working for him-she was basically his mistress. She even thought she loved him for a time. It was an unequal balance of power, which is bad but not even remotely in the same realm as what Mira Sorvino went through or what Rose McGowan went through-her story is very very different than most of Weinstein’s victims. Most of his victims were forcibly raped, drugged, he exposed himself, tricked into being alone with him, unknowns that were essentially by themselves with no help and being told they had to go down on him or their livelihoods would be destroyed, he would show up uninvited to hotel rooms and force his way in–Asia had (mostly) consensual sex with him. And maybe he groomed her into that. It just always struck me her career did not suffer even a fraction of what McGowan’s or Sorvino’s did. Her story has always stood out because her particular experience was so unique.
YES YES YES!!!
What about the OTHER victims? This young man cannot have been the only one. Argento is the one in the position of power and it is very difficult to believe this was her only time.
Want to add: SO WHAT if she is female? Everyone of any color religion gender preference economic level height weight, can be a perpetrator. Callousness, sociopathy knows no bias.
THIS!!!! YES.
She is as disgusting as the man who abused her.
It seems that she groomed him since they worked together when he was just 7 years old! They referred to each other as mother and son. Then at just 17, she gave him alcohol and seduced him? Violating that trust they built makes the sexual abuse even worse! So sad and disgusting!
Just makes you want to throw up thinking about it.
As a side note, Asia Argento was signed on as a judge for the Italian version of X Factor, and I am pretty sure they have already started filming it. I wonder how they will handle this.
Ugh ugh ugh UGH.
What a monster. Both for her attack of a teen boy, who was fortunately brave enough to come forward, and for the thousands of women whose #MeToo stories are now tarnished and will be diminished because of this asshole.
I was shocked when I read this. But have to confess that I’ve found Asia problematic for a while after she instigated a situation where Ava Devernay was harassed by her fans. She claimed that no one but Spike Lee congratulated her for her very good speech me CAnnes. A commenter on Twitter asked her if Ava said anything and she said no. Ava responded with a picture of her with her arms around Asia and reminded her, gracefully, that she whispered “well done” to her. Asia refused to acknowledge that she was wrong and felt she didn’t owe Ava any apology. It just reeked of some white women erasure of black women.
While reading this, a memory came flashing back to me. My younger cousin lived with me when she was in elementary school (I was in middle school) due to her parents being neglectful drug abusers. My cousin and I shared a bed and she would pretend to be asleep, dreaming and she would touch me sexually. This went on the entire time she lived with us but I never told anyone b/c it didn’t really affect me and I’m still not sure why. She’s my best friend to this day and we have never discussed what happened but I’m sure she remembers it. Many years later, in my 30s I found out that my father molested my aunt (my cousin’s mom) when she was only 11 years old. That molestation happened in the late 70s early 80s. When my cousin sexually messed with me, she was already aware of the molestation at the hands of my father decades earlier. I now feel like my cousin did that out of curiosity from what my dad did to her mom. Her mom happened to be asleep on the couch when my father molested her. I see some of the same behaviors regarding Asia and the child she raped in my cousin. It can sometimes be a viscious cycle. This is just my opinion from my life experience. Please feel free to think on my post and start a discussion. I would love some more opinions about this matter.
Maybe it’s something you should discuss with her. Kids sometimes “play doctor” but usually it’s pretty innocent unless one of them is acting out something that happened with an older child or adult.
To be honest, I don’t see the similarity. You said your cousin was in elementary school when she touched you. That’s 6 to 10 years old, right?
AA was an adult. Not only that, but I could even say that in your case, the power imbalance was in your favor, as you were older than her, it was your house…had you said anything, your cousin would have probably been removed from your presence. In AA case, she had the power: she was older, she was his “mother figure”, she was famous and Dario Argento is an affirmed director. It is not comparable to the actions of a misguided, traumatized child.
Oh, I am so sorry. All of this happened in my family. Between my siblings, but it all went much much farther and for years. There was no love in the house. Both parents narcissists, incapable of even holding us and saying the basic, “I love you and you are wonderful”. Unfortunately these two limited people had five kids and the result for me is a lifetime of PTSD and depression.
If you and your cousin are friends, I would definitely bring this out into the open. I love my brothers, and even though they were the abusers and five years older than each sister, they were also victims and also children. It is VERY complicated.
But communication and love goes a long way. Find a therapist and go together with your cousin. It is very healing, very safe and very giving to let yourself spend an hour a week only on your own issues. Or even just show your cousin this thread. What she did has nothing to do with right or wrong but it affected you in ways that are impossible to tease out completely. Even though I do not live in that hell house anymore it still follows….and I spend hours re-convincing myself that I live HERE now. Life is complicated and hard, but communication is key.
Even though I was appalled at first at this awful revelation about Asia, in the long run it is a GOOD thing. More young men will be emboldened to open up and tell their stories. And the METOO movement will only get stronger. ME = everyone.
Your cousin showed clear signs of being sexually abused, unfortunately. TBH, if you had a known case of molestation in your family, the perpetrator was probably the same: they don’t stop unless stopped by others, usually. So, you had a scared, younger child showing the results of the abuse to you, probably. It’s a cry for help and at the same time deeply unconscious one, bc often abusers convince the child it’s a way to show affection. Especially at 6-10, she was definetely abused herself.
I am VERY confused. I just saw the movie just now/ The “Jeremiah” kid that the actor Jimmy Bennett was portraying was about 7 years old. Was he 17 yet looked 7? Did she rape him after themovie was done, years later?
Yes years later she took him to that hotel room when he had just turned 17.
She played his mother when he was 7 and she kept in contact with him through the years calling him her “son”.Two months after he turned 17 she invited him to her hotel,gave him alcohol and performed oral sex on him and they had intercourse according to the report.
From the excerpt:
“…Bennett, who once played Argento’s son in 2004’s…”
Same excerpt:
“Argento sexually assaulted Bennett in a California hotel room two months after he turned 17,…”
She met (& employed) him as a minor, assaulted him as a teen, yeas later, then paid him off years after the assault as she was gaining global attention.
Yes,she raped him after. Do you know she worked as his acting coach on Otage so set and Firewall’s set also ?
Since Rose Mcgowan inserts herself into basically everything I want to hear her outrage at what Asia did to this young man. I wonder if she has such a big mouth when her friend is accused.
Didn’t she defend a male director* who also has been accused of sexual improprieties/crimes with a minor?
*Edited: Victor Salva, CONVICTED OF SEX WITH A MINOR (12yo).
And McGowan has already made a statement: her “heart is broken,” and “None of us knows the truth…Be gentle.” 😐
!!!! Completely shocked by this revelation! I am completely just gobsmacked!!
I don’t have anything else to add to the discussion — you all do such an amazing job with your analyses.
Just because someone settled does not necessarily mean that she is guilty. There is something very suspicious with this situation. There is a lot behind the scenes and a very sordid web indeed.
In the case of Michael Jackson, it did not come out in the press but the Arvizo mother trained her son to fake his illness, going so far as to shave his head and then to go into Jackson’s home and set him up to build a case. She had powerful people helping guide her and her son each step of the way in the Michael Jackson case.
So we have photos in a bed. This shows that it was exceptionally poor judgement but it does not prove the claim.
Paying someone out does not necessarily mean that it is proof of guilt.
It is interesting that the young man had legal troubles with his parents.
He claimed his parents had barred him from the family home and kept his possessions, and cheated him out of at least $1.5 million in his earnings, according to the Times.
There is a lot more than meets the eye with this case.
It’s all on her Instagram. He looked like a child and she had spent years playing mother/child with him. Her own lawyers refer to three photos of them in bed, one in which she’s topless. Worst case scenario: he stayed friendly with her and then became opportunistic and saw money? She still took advantage of a confused child, to put it mildly.
I hate saying I’m not surprised by this story. I’ve also noticed as Kaiser astutely pointed out that both Asia and Rose (while victims) have used their pulpit in many ways to bully and alienate other victims. Which is the antithesis of the whole dang movement. It shouldn’t be about who was the most victimized or vulnerable or whose career was most ruined. It’s a club I along with many posters here belong to (being sexually harassed) and wish I didn’t. But there shouldn’t be some sort of qualification as to who is a leader of a movement as though one’s story is more important or heartbreaking than someone else’s. If we are going to go tit for tat I’m sure Annabella Sciorra among others could also stand up and use their position within the movement to do as Rose and Asia have appeared to do on social media. “Oh you were only fondled and fired from a movie? Well…that’s no where near as bad as what happened to me.”
l think that many within the movement when it began rightly recognized what Rose and Asia appeared to be doing and selected for other women to be the face of projects they were working on to bring light to the issues of equality and sexual harassment. Just my two cents. I am sorry that both Rose and Asia were victims but I just don’t feel there is a place for their approach within the movement at all. Especially with the allegations regarding Asia. Uggh. I just don’t want her being a victimizer to wound what so far has been a successful movement. But I am not naive…of course it will. Makes me sad and nauseous.
I’m not defending her because, people.. but am I the only who is giving a little side-eye to the fact that they young man in question had the presence of mind to snap a selfie of them cuddled up together? Only to use it against her later? Sigh… people…
He was a kid that had been groomed by this person since he was 7 years old. Flip the sexes around and see if you say the same thing.
Her lawyers say three photos, one in which they are topless. Putting it mildly, she took advantage of a confused kid whom she’d played mother too since he worked for her as a child. You think he’s messed up? Look who’s responsible.
Geez, is anybody who they say they are?? I agree that it is possible (likely) that both stories are true, and both are terrible. Having said that, she is clearly a different person than what she has been presenting. For her to be so vocal and make that huge speech, one could argue she has a similar level of arrogance and entitlement that her perpetrator has. How could she think this wouldn’t get out???
Some nice insider information on Dlisted. But her instagram told me all I needed to know about this woman. I am sorry if she was raped, abused. But she is pure evil. I still cant get over the picture of her kissing the dog. (can be found online). Apparently she is hated in Italy and they have some interesting insider news of her.
this is just such a mess.
i can’t even wrap my head around what all must have gone on in these peoples’ heads, the complexity of it.
whatever the hell happened to bourdain, whose loss still really bothers me (‘celebrity’ suicides, or any suicides for that matter, always do- but something about his, i dunno, it’s just all so murky , the timeline of events, their sunny instagram photos from just the week before- but then, of course, yeah, he was always open about his struggles with serious depression, substance abuse, and everyone around him at the end said how non-stop he was with his working and travel- all that to say, no, it’s not her fault he killed herself… but STILL. damn. what the hell?)
and now this.
it’s just really sordid and it sucks and i hate what it does for the image/ credibility of a guy like Bourdain, who was really so lovely, and for the MeToo movement, which is so necessary…
I guess, just, toxic people are toxic.
Well…………I guess I am not surprised about Asia. My niece’s husband is married to an Italian man and just a week ago we had an interesting discussion about her. No details are necessary on that, other than the fact that I loved Anthony Bourdain, and he despised Asia.
She needs to come clean.
I had no idea who this female was until that chef committed suicide but when I saw her in the news my very first thought was this creature is a pile of garbage. There is something radiating from her that is absolutely foul.
I think the age of consent needs to be higher across the board, by the way. In another state, he would have been legally able to consent (although no less a victim in every way). My daughter was raped at 17 by an older man who groomed, manipulated, deceived and terrified her and left her with bruises, but because she was the age of consent and didn’t specifically say no (frozen in fear) the deputy told us “no crime occurred.”
I always found it difficult to support Asia AND Rose because they seemed to be so disingenuous and only out there for a dollar. Both profited hugely from their self-proclaimed leadership of the whole thing and there was something entirely off putting and phony about both of them, considering BOTH continued to work with known sexual predators while proudly pretending to be the faces of the cause. Both women also like to profit off each other. Rose has already turned on Asia over this and now Asia is saying her dead boyfriend paid the guy off. How convenient. What a disaster. I hope both Rose and Asia GO AWAY.
She’s saying they never had sex and he blackmailed her at a very vulnerable time so she and Bourdain together decided to pay him off to protect themselves and her especially.
I’m not ruling it out.