Harvey Weinstein didn’t just harass, assault and abuse actresses, as it turns out. Because of course he didn’t. He also had a “thing” for abusing models. It seems more and more like Harvey Weinstein was less a “producer” and more like a professional sexual assailant who merely used the “producer” job as a cover for his real career as a sexual predator. Anyway, the whole idea that Weinstein had been preying on models over the years has been on the edge of the story this whole time. Weinstein’s Italian connection/enabler/pimp, Fabrizio Lombardo, was one of the people pipelining European actresses AND MODELS to Weinstein for abuse. Weinstein was heavily involved with his wife’s fashion line, and Weinstein developed deep contacts with Anna Wintour and Vogue, plus contacts with other designers and organizers of New York Fashion Week. It’s safe to say that his hunting ground was any and every fashion week, model-heavy fundraiser or fashion event, really.

The steady stream of models passing through Harvey Weinstein’s orbit may not have been a coincidence, according to a new report from the L.A. Times. Weinstein began developing his connections in fashion in the early 2000s. As he was securing his power in Hollywood, he got to know people in fashion who were increasingly interested in partnering with celebrities. Weinstein went on to serve as an executive producer on Project Runway, invested in the company Halston, and backed his wife, Georgina Chapman’s fashion line, Marchesa.

But in addition to using the fashion world, and magazines like Vogue, to increase the profile of the actresses he worked with, sources interviewed by the L.A. Times say that Weinstein also “used fashion as a pipeline to women. They said that models, oftentimes young and working overseas far from home, were particularly vulnerable.”

At least 10 former and current models including Cara Delevingne and Angie Everhart, have accused Weinstein of various forms of sexual misconduct. One former model Zoë Brock, told the L.A. Times she believes that men connected to Weinstein intentionally sat her next to him at a dinner party in Cannes in 1998.

“Someone put me there next to him — that was on purpose. I am pretty sure that there are a lot of people that would like to sit next to Harvey Weinstein,” Brock told the L.A. Times. “So why was it me?” Brock told the paper she had to lock herself in a hotel bathroom to get away from Weinstein during a 1998 incident in Cannes. She claims they ended up in a hotel room when a naked Weinstein demanded a massage.

Brazilian model Julianna De Paula recalled a particularly pervy incident a decade ago when she allegedly ended up at Weinstein’’s New York loft – and was forced to kiss other women in front of him, the paper said. A naked Weinstein ended up chasing her through his apartment, forcing her to use a broken glass to keep him at bay, De Paula said. “He looked at me, and he started to laugh,” she said. “I was shocked. I was completely in disbelief.”

Model Samantha Panagrosso recalled meeting Weinstein at the Cannes Film Festival in 2003, when the movieman allegedly started touched her legs under the water in a hotel pool. When she objected, the portly perv simply pointed at another model nearby and boasted, she said. “’Look at her, I’m going to have her come to my room for a screen test,’” Panagrosso said, quoting Weinstein.

[From Page Six & The Cut]

How many models will come forward? If anything, it seems to me like the modeling industry would be more susceptible to a code of silence about Weinstein – actresses like Gwyneth Paltrow and Ashley Judd could use their fame to speak up, but who would believe a 17 year old model from Eastern Europe with a sparse resume? And yes, I’m sure that Weinstein found many, many enablers and collaborators within the fashion industry. Ugh. These poor women.

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