As I’m going through older photos of Asia Argento, what I can’t un-see now is that she always seemed so arrogant. Even when she was walking the carpet in Cannes this year to take part in the Cannes event for #MeToo, she just looked so self-satisfied. The Cannes photo above is from ONE MONTH AFTER she convinced Anthony Bourdain to pay off Jimmy Bennett, the young man she raped in 2013, when he was just 17. Argento released a statement about the New York Times report on Tuesday, and then on Wednesday, TMZ completely blew up her story, using old texts to prove that her statement was a load of crap. On Wednesday, Asia’s victim released his first public statement as well. Here is Jimmy Bennett, in his own words, explaining why he’s coming forward now:
Many brave women and men have spoken out about their own experiences during the #metoo movement, and I appreciate the bravery that it took for each and every one of them to take such a stand. I did not initially speak out about my story because I chose to handle it in private with the person who wronged me. My trauma resurfaced as she came out as a victim herself. I have not made a public statement in the past days and hours because I was ashamed and afraid to be part of the public narrative. I was underage when the event took place, and I tried to seek justice in a way that made sense to me at the time because I was not ready to deal with the ramifications of my story becoming public. At the time I believed there was still a stigma to being in the situation as a male in our society. I didn’t think that people would understand the event that took place from the eyes of a teenage boy. I have had to overcome many adversities in my life, and this is another that I will deal with, in time. I would like to move past this event in my life, and today I choose to move forward, no longer in silence.
I believe Jimmy Bennett. I believe that he was taken advantage of when he was only 17 and it took him months and years to really process what happened and why it was wrong. I also believe that seeing Argento put herself out there as the most victimized victim ever was probably quite triggering for Bennett. The New York Times obtained Bennett’s legal notice of intent, which his lawyer sent to Argento earlier this year. The notice of intent also included the photo evidence – the “selfie” taken after Argento assaulted him. The New York Times also has recent text messages from Argento where she contradicts her own statement from Tuesday, and she claims that “the horny kid jumped me” and that his legal notice of intent was a “shakedown letter.”
Jimmy Bennett, the actor who has claimed that he was sexually abused by Asia Argento as a teenager, issued his first public statement about the allegations. "I tried to seek justice in a way that made sense to me at the time." https://t.co/lW3L4VQA3A
— The New York Times (@nytimes) August 22, 2018
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, WENN.
Honestly, f*ck her.
I’ve read a bunch of posts from Hollywood adjacent ‘friends’ on fb saying Weinstein has been involved in this from the start – that his scummies located and pushed Jimmy forward, that he’s had a hand in releasing this info to the media, and that delegitimising Argento and the movement is part of his plan to return to Hollywood, etc, but even if she genuinely believes she didn’t do anything wrong (I don’t believe her), her statement throwing both the victim AND her deceased partner under the bus, was disgusting. So yeah F her.
If Harvey Weinstein takes down another abuser with him I am all for it. Right now he will be focusing on his accusers but when he goes down hopefully he points his fingers at other powerful Hollywood men, maybe even politicians. Thats by the way a fear I have. That really powerful men outside of Hollywood will protect him. Depending on if he has dirt on them.
It would not surprise me if Weinstein and his ex-mossad flunkies were involved somehow but it does not excuse what she did and how she has been behaving over it (not that you were). HW has also been hard at work discrediting Paz De La Huerta and yes I think this is part of his grand plan to get back into Hollywood but it won’t work as Hollywood always hated him and could not wait to get rid of him.
I would also not discount Bourdain’s friends and family who HATE Argento, they saw her for what she is – when he passed she basically threw him under the bus by saying they had an ‘open’ relationship when a few weeks before she was caught screwing around. A lot of people think his friends/family tipped off the NYT, esp as it was done via a food/restaurant journo.
“Little fish” street dealers take down “big fish” druglords all of the time in high crime.
Inmates snitch on other inmates all of the time.
Street informants turn in fellow criminals all of the time.
This is a common and successful tactic in criminal apprehension, so if it “takes one to know one,” Weinstein can take down ALL of his fellow pervs…and everybody can STILL GO TO JAIL.
It happens all of the time.
Works for me!
It wouldn’t surprise me. I am sure he has collected loads of blackmail material against other scumbags. The only thing vile Harvey should do now is let it all out there so some other abusers and disgusting garbage go down in flames with him. He has nothing to lose at this point. It doesn’t matter to me who exposed Asia. I am just glad someone did for Jimmy’s sake. I don’t even want to imagine what this past year has been like for him. I hope he sues her and I hope he presses charges.
Hey, if there wasn’t anything to take down, HW couldn’t do it. Too bad she couldn’t just say no to a horny teenager in a hotel room.
Not only does she not say no, the idiot TAKES PICTURES!!!! The arrogance, you know you’re doing something wrong and you take pictures. Stupid.
Amen, Claire.
I believe that Harvey Weinstein is behind this information being released but the fact of the matter is she gave him the ammunition. There was nothing he could do to her if she hadn’t done what she did so , at the end of the day this is on her and her actions. IF not Harvey, someone else would have found out and put it on blast.
i feel so bad for jimmy–how triggering indeed.
i also feel so bad for Tony–sigh.
I feel bad for Jimmy, too. It’s really brave of him to speak publicly.
This is so messy and gross. I am 37 and the thought of sleeping with a 17 year old makes me want to vomit. She seems like a pretty damaged person. The whole Anthony Bourdain factor in this story…. I don’t even know what to think. Did he think he would be found out for paying off a victim? Did that lead to his suicide? What a mess.
Its not only that they were 17 and 37 but that she groomed him from when he was little.
so gross.
He was apparently 7 YEARS OLD when she chose him to play her SON in a movie. WTF???
I mean this in a completely innocent way – please don’t be annoyed I believe he’s the victim – but is it grooming? It sounds like she played his mother and then when that wrapped they didn’t really stay in contact? The note he left said “I’m so glad we met again and I’m so glad you’re in my life” – it sounds like they just reconnected.
It doesn’t AT ALL excuse the fact that this was a crime. It was. I just don’t know much about the topic (thankfully) to fully understand the intricacies here. With Macron I get it – she continued to have contact with him the entire time, despite parents intervening. Celine Dion I 100% believe was groomed as well. But this sounds a little different. I mean – either way it’s still completely wrong, and I really feel bad for the guy. I just didn’t automatically consider it grooming based on the details I’ve read – but I could have missed something too. But it seemed like she lost contact with him for the most part over a 10 year window… so would it be grooming still?
Again – I mean this in a non-shaming way. I just was wondering if I’d missed something, and was hoping someone could explain it to me.
@Erinn, how they didn’t stay in contact if she was his acting coach pn sets during his teenage years?
I mean, you are an “old” cb reader like I:you know how child actors live. Acting coaches are one of the closest people they have around when on sets.
she cast him in her film when he was 7, as her sexually abused son(interestingly, great R Egbert himself commented how this movie is one of the great examples how chil actors are unprotected-the abuse in the movie was so unsettling that he asked himself how can you isolate 7year old actor from it, how can you make the reality/acting distinction)….
it was grooming through and through. From the movie where she practicaly exposed him to pervasiveness of abuse, groomed him to consider her his family and then assaulted him.
@geekychick
I had definitely missed the acting coach part. Thanks for bringing it up – it makes it obvious now. I’m not going to lie – I skimmed over parts of the story because it’s upsetting. I also hadn’t seen the movie he was in with her.
I am an “old” cber – it must be somewhere around 8-10 years now? At least that long, because I was reading a while before I ever posted. So I definitely understand how screwed up it is for the vast majority of child actors. I had just heard that he’d played her son in the movie but I didn’t realize the role was so awful. If he was 7 in the movie, I would have only been about 13 when it came out – so I hadn’t heard anything about it until the last couple of days. I can’t even begin to imagine how horrible this must have made him feel seeing her pushing the me too stuff. I mean – yes. She’s a victim of Weinstein – that doesn’t change. It was bad enough when I thought she’d just met up with him after not seeing him for a decade… still 100% statutory. But knowing that she’d worked with him for so long, and abused the trust that he had so thoroughly… it’s absolutely sickening.
Thanks for the clarification geekychick – I appreciate it.
@Erinn
The whole thing is gross , there is an imbalance of power/age,, she is all sorts of wrong for this and yes there is a strong possibility that he was groomed but just because she knew him as a child does that automatically mean that she groomed him ?
Some people just out here throwing this around like its an irrefutable fact, the story is gross enough as it is without the insertion of those assumptions without concrete evidence So Yeh I had that thought too
It must be nice to have a rich older boyfriend to bribe your victims
Amen. Also 37. Kids, employees… anything with a power imbalance turns my stomach. You don’t do that if you’re a decent person.
Another 37 year old here. 17 year olds are STILL CHILDREN! Jeebus H. My brain still can’t process what has transpired, and it’s kicked off an entire new wave of mourning for Bourdain. Used by an abuser, and then posthumously used as a human shield for her crime (which is just that…a CRIME).
It’s gut-wrenching. The whole thing. Literally AND figuratively.
@delphi
I’m not defending Asia, I think she is absolutely terrible and she should be charged with what she did to that young man. But, 17 year olds are not children, they are young adults. Doesn’t change the fact that what she did was illegal, disgusting and reprehensible.
@Missy
Nope. A 17 yr old is by no means a “young adult.” By definition he was a “teen” not an adult. he had also just turned 17, so it was mostly like 16yr old days after his birthday.
A “young adult” is mostly referred to someone in their 20s, not to a teenage boy.
The whole thing is incredibly disturbing. I feel so badly for this young man – first that this happened to him, second that as a male, he felt he couldn’t speak up, and now that this has all become so public. I hope he has a good support system.
I don’t know much about Bourdain, but it’s hard not to think this was weighing on him.
I know, I KNOW. This whole situation is horrific and I’m glad she’s been exposed as the predator and liar she apparently is. As someone said above, I feel for both Jimmy and Anthony (RIP).
What is Asia implying in those text messages when she says “If I lose my job I will move to Africa or the Amazon forest. I want to be among the 90% of the world that doesnt give a f*ck about this s**t.”
Is she saying that people in those regions dont care about an assault on a child? Wtf?
What job is that?
X factor Italy.
Yeah, if someone understood that part, I would like an explanation cause it does not make any goddamn sense to me, except Queenb’s explanation obviously.
Asia is a revolting individual truly. No wonder Rose and her hit off so quickly.
I read that as her saying she wants to move somewhere where the general population doesn’t care about Hollywood and the gossip and rumours. Which would mean the people wouldn’t have heard about her drama and the fact that she’s a predator.
I agree about her arrogance. I remember reading a piece about her years ago when that XXX movie with Vin Deisel was coming out, and she talked like she was going to be some huge movie star because of it (or something like that, it was a lot big time ago). She just seemed really full of herself and I found myself really put off by her. Don’t get me wrong, I feel bad for what she went through with HW but her actions here are terrible and inexcusable, especially the way she’s used AB in trying to deflect and defend herself. My heart goes out to this brave young man.
what she did to this boy goes far beyond Weinstein: she groomed him for years! she called him her son, and he caled her momma, for FFS! The things she’s implying in her defense are gaslighting through and through (he’s troubled, he wants money, he assaulted her (!!!!) are really cruel: she is victimizing him, implying subtly that he doesn’t deserve trust. Just disgusting.
and I don’t care who exposed her. all abusers deserve and should be exposed.
no one will think better of Weinstein just bc Argento turned put to be a despicable human. There are many evil people in this world, one doesn’t negate the other.
It’s doesnt matter if he was a horny kid and jumped her. He was 17. It is 100% the adults responsibility to decline that.
It must have been so hard to come forward like this, especially when we have living examples of predatory behaviour (Ms. Macronand Ms Taylor Johnson), who try to sell their story as some grand love affair. It’s not love, it’s predation.
ITA, Brigitte Macron and Sam TJ both stalked and groomed teenage boys, telling them it was real love. I can’t bear to look at them – BM looks like an aging extra on one of those ‘real life..’ reality shows trying to dress and act like she’s still 30.
The circumstances surrounding this are 100% gross, no argument, but isn’t 17 over the age of consent basically everywhere? I feel like I might have missed something in this story.
18 is the age of consent where the rape took place
yes but she was grooming him since he was age 7. He played her son in a film. That was the dynamic. It’s not like she met him at 17 and started a relationship.
no, it’s not. Someone yesterday claimed that age of consent in Europe starts from 14 years-yes, but when it’s between two teenagers. For example, in my country if you’re 16, you can legally give consent to someone up to 3 years older: older than that, and it’s illegal until 18. I thinl it’s similar in most of the EU states.
In the US the ages of consent very, but are similar to what @GeekyChick is talking about. There may be some caveats, like an allowance of a slight age difference, usually five years or less. And such a huge age gap is like Asia and the young man is pretty much forbidden. Plus, as others said, she groomed the boy.
he had also just turned 17, it was apparently days after his 17th birthday. honestly to me you don’t magically become more mature or adult based on one day.
Age of consent in CA (that’s where the incident took place btw) is 18. So yes this is statutory rape.
Thank you to everyone who took the time to reply to my question.
I think 17 is the age of consent in certain states yes – I think New York (that’s why James Franco didn’t get in legal trouble) and Texas are two where 17 can consent to sex with adults. (Not just other teens.)
Totally agree with you. I have a huge problem with men and women (including those 2 famous women) predating and grooming their
young victims to sell it after as a love story between a very in love and determined mature soul (the teenager) and their poor confused and torn forever young partners (them). To the f*&## with them.
I get sick whenever I see media outlets interviewing Mary Kay letourneau, giving her a platform to discuss how she groomed and raped a twelve year old. The fact that she’s still married to him now doesn’t change anything. If that case had been treated differently in the media and talked about it for what it was, rape of a child, maybe people would feel differently these days.
I think it is especially hard for him because he possibly did “jump” on her, and desire her, and wanted to be with her, etc. He may have been smitten! He did nothing wrong. He was led to believe that the feelings were mutual, and she promised publicly to cast him in her next film, ffs! SHE is the only one who did something wrong. I feel so bad for this guy. I spent years and years feeling ashamed of my behavior before/after being sexually assaulted (which has happened repeatedly, so it made me think even more that it was my fault). Then I realized, wow…I could have had my mouth full of body parts and been enjoying every second of it – but the second I said “naw,” that was that. As it turns out, that is NOT how I behaved, but the point is that no mout of enthusiasm changes that he was underage and that she committed a crime. No amount of ignorance about consent laws in California change the fact that she gaslit, manipulated, shamed, and lied to EVERYONE in her circle. She is the only one who did anything wrong. That’s how this works.
I don’t think we will hear the end of this anytime soon. I have a feeling there are more disturbing stories yet to surface.
Asia Argento Allegedly Sent Unwanted Nude Pics to Comic Friend
https://theblast.com/asia-argento-jeff-leach-metoo-nude-photos-podcast/
The guy told her he had a girlfriend, and he didn’t want this. She just brushed it off saying those were not sexual, and claimed she sent things like that to all her friends. I dunno, to some people, that’s their definition of sexual harassment.
I’m sorry for him, I read so many people who derided him because they don’t understand that males can be abused by women
Exactly, a lot of the online comments have been of the “lucky guy” variety. People need to wake up to the fact that men can be abused, women can be abusers and that long lasting harm is the result. I hope this young man has support in his life right now and that he has the strength to deal with how all this publicity has put him in the spotlight, Argento’s dismissive comments on this must feel like being victimized again.
I hope he is able to heal and move on to life a healthy life, he’s been used and abused by adults (parents included) for most of his young life so of course he’s going to be vulnerable.
As for her, she needs to be held accountable for her actions – its statuary rape and its obvious that she had been grooming him. Remember she’s known him since he was a child and was all over social media referring to him as her son and she as his mother – she set herself up as a parental figure in his life. He trusted her and she took advantage. She clearly thinks that a 37 yr old woman having sex with a 17 yr old boy that she often referred to as her son is perfectly normal. It’s not.
Why on EARTH did this woman come forward as one of the faces of the #MeToo movement? She must have known all this was going to come out. Ugh.
arrogance
I don’t see her coming out as victim as an issue.
It still helped people come forward like her victim ironically.
Yeah, I feel so torn about this. On one hand, she’s not the “perfect” victim, and people trying to undermine the movement can use her past against her to try to discredit a lot more people than just her. On the other hand, somebody had to come forward non-anonymously and accuse HW. She was one of the first people to come forward, and that took a lot of balls.
And she has at least 2 children…I can’t imagine what they’re feeling
I really want people to emphasize the fact that she groomed him from the age of 7. This wasn’t only happening at 17, she has been grooming him since he was 7, there’s social media interaction and stuff to back that up. She is no better than Harvey Weinstein in my opinion and her attempts to muddy the truth with implying she just let him do it to get it over with (“but it wasn’t rape” I believe she said after) is also so gross. Making it sound like her victim was the attacker is disgusting.
That is horrifying and disgusting. She deserves what ever embarrassment she feels.
She also got him drunk first which would count as rape even if they were similar ages. She deliberately incapacitated him so she could get access to his body.
I have such a bad feeling about what comes next. I believe him, of course, which makes it all the worse that everything I read about this young man and his family is a mess. The most recent photo of him was frightening. That statement is not “in his own words”; it’s clearly a publicist or lawyer. I’m just not convinced he has much support around him or that his mental state is very good. Add to that it wasn’t his decision to make this public? I am just absolutely filled with dread.
The aftershocks of abuse are just stunning. The victims of course and then all the others unwittingly caught up; This young man’s family, Anthony Bourdain, Argento’s two children.
If that’s just one assault, how do we measure the damage of a Weinstein or a Cosby?It’s unfathomable.
I say again, a vile woman.
RIP Bourdain. I feel for Bourdains daughter, losing her Dad at 11 years old and now she will be hearing/seeing all the ugliness of the person her Dad loved. How on earth did a worldly, savvy guy like Bourdain ever get involved with this woman?
Ugly, vile, child abuser.
All of this is so disgusting. Without hearing it from anyone else, I thought it reeked of Harvey somehow some way. But, she’s disgusting. She tries to rationalize her behavior in her texts to her friend. She tries to blame the victim. And on top of all of this, she seemed to be milking Bourdain’s death for her own celebrity. Did any of you see or read the plot to the movie she was in with her victim when she played his mom? It’s very disturbing. She dresses her son up as a girl and has him seduce a character played by Marilyn Mansion. Wtf. Oh, and check out all of the satanic/dark imagery on her Instagram account. She is vile af.
She really is a disturbing individual. Vigilant Citizen has an article that shows her photos, including ones she posted of her own kids. And that movie she was in and directed too with that boy is beyond sick. It was bad enough just reading about it. And she struts around, I have never seen anyone more full of themselves.
I keep reading on gossip blogs that he was a young man I say BS.He had just turned 17 also she first met him when he was 6 or 7 and would refer to him as her son.I got into an argument with a guy who said Jimmy wasn’t a victim.I replied, “If a 37 year old man who has known your 17 year old daughter since she was 7, had sex with her would that be OK.The guy said “It’s not the same thing”
I’m tired of people thinking women abusing teenage boys is not the same or not as damaging as men abusing girls.
Personal story. When I was 16 I dated a 25 year old man. At the time I could not see all the things that were crazy wrong with the situation. I thought it was great even! It wasn’t. As I got older I realized how truly f’ed up it was and how much I missed as a 16 year old because I was a child and had no business being in that situation to begin with. I couldn’t see the power imbalance. Even if Jimmy was enjoying himself at the time it is still fking wrong and a 37 year old women should protect a young man by keeping her distance and not filling a weird role in his life with her vagina .
A crime ands it should be treated as such.
She is really despicable– a thoroughly hypocritical, narcissist with mental health issues. Who is raising her kids by the way (she has a couple I believe). That being said, I do believe this is part of an attempt to discredit Weinstein’s accusers and pull the rug out from under #metoo. Why aren’t we publicly condemning the actor James Woods who has pursued barely legal and underage girls for decades? Many of his girlfriends have been the daughters of friends and he has known them in their childhood. How about Frank Sinatra and Mia Farrow–this was another case of grooming and inappropriate behavior leading to marriage. Yes, this is a human problem–women can be the predators and males can be victims but it is undeniable that the majority of predators are in fact men and that is it an issue of sexual exploitation with a very significant factor being the misuse and abuse of power and status.
I know people are saying the exposure has HW’s fingerprints all over it but seriously if she didn’t do anything wrong he would not have found that dirt. So people can blame HW (he’s still a pervert btw) but really it is all on her. She was the one who instigated it and now is trying to blame the victim and a person who is no longer with us and can’t defend himself (Bourdain).
She’s a piece of work.
She seems to have an uncanny ability to “seduce” men. I know the type, they’re generally thought to be suffering from histrionic/narcissistic personality disorder and one of the main symptoms of histrionic PD is overt sexuality – dressing and acting provocatively to get the attention they need. Their narcissism is the fuel to the histrionic fire and they can be dangerously manipulative. That’s what I think she did with Bourdain, and he was so smitten with her that he let himself be manipulated into thinking Jimmy was shaking her down for no good reason. I think that after Bourdain paid off Jimmy, he saw the photos of her hugging and kissing another man, called her on it and she probably turned on him…she didn’t need him anymore. That’s what put him over the edge. He opened Pandora’s Box and something very ugly came out.
I also read she was blaming him saying he would send her unsolicited nude pics throughout the years. Yet she says they never stayed in contact? Why wouldn’t she tell him to stop or block him in order to stop that inappropriateness?
Also if he was harassing her this way, and she knew he had a crush oh him like she claims, then why would she end up drinking with this underage boy, and in a hotel room with him? She’s the adult here, and she clearly knew all the lines she was crossing with him.
She basically insinuates he attacked her (“he jumped me.”…”i was frozen.”) but still want to pay him off to “help him” really? would anyone here pay a teen that apparently sexually assaulted you over $300 cause you feel bad for them??
Basically everything she says is a manipulation and a lie.
The whole Asia Argento and JT LeRoy thing was super odd too
I love it when somebody is exposed as being a massive hypocrite. Goodbye Asia
I cannot even articulate how disgusted I am by what a BAD person she is. She’s a predator who is trying to blame her victim AND she’s trying to pin the blame for everything else on her dead boyfriend… I guess because dead guys can’t defend themselves. Unfathomably horrific. She is awful.
This whole movement is going to go nowhere. Started out strong but it’s slowly dwindling into a farce.
Well that’s deliberate. They want to put a stop to it before the pedos get outed.
OK, I’m changing my tune after reading his statement. I’m glad to see another male come forward and help the metoo movement move forward: we need more men/boys to stand up and speak out about sexual abuse because it does happen to them too. It was never about the feminist agenda, in my opinion, but the human condition and desperate cry for change that we drastically need.
I still personally believe that the legal age for sex should be 16, as it is in my country and many others, and I respect and appreciate that 18 or 19 is probably much more healthy for the age of sexual consent, like drinking laws and gun control laws. However, I think we’ve all been a horny teenager in our lives on this site, and can appreciate that we need sexual release as humans, and well, animals ❤️
There is a difference between two teenagers sleeping together and an older person using, basically, a child. And 17year old is a child when it comes to se* and relationships with adults especially. I’m kind of baffled that after all this comments, you seem to imply that lower age of consent would be some kind of “freedom for teenagers”. teenagers already do have that freedom in the eyes of the law: no one will arrest any teenager who is sleeping with a teenager: most countries have that regulated with simple addition of “if up to 3/5 years older, it is not punishable by law” (in my country it’s from 16 up to 3 years older, but anything older than that is illegal; the normal age of consent/drinking/serving in army/voting is 18).