Actress Julia Ormond is suing Harvey Weinstein over claims he sexually assaulted her in 1995 and caused a “catastrophic” decline in her movie career.
The star, 58, who appeared opposite Brad Pitt in Legends of the Fall, says she was attacked by Weinstein after a dinner in New York when he stripped naked and forced her into oral sex.
Ormond is suing Weinstein himself and his former production company Miramax, as well as Disney and her former talent agency the Creative Artists Agency (CAA) who she says failed to protect her from abuse.
In the 1990s, the Surrey-born actress starred in First Knight with Sean Connery and Richard Gere and opposite Harrison Ford in Sabrina. But her lawsuit filed in New York says she "nearly disappeared from the public eye" after the Weinstein assault.
"The damage to Ormond’s career because of Weinstein’s assault and the aftermath was catastrophic both personally and professionally", it adds.
Weinstein, who is currently serving a 23-year prison sentence for rape, said through a lawyer that he “categorically” denies Ormond’s allegations.
According to the legal claim, Ormond had a business dinner with Weinstein before returning to an apartment where he "stripped naked and forced her to perform oral sex on him".
"That sexual assault on Ormond could have been prevented if Miramax or Disney had properly supervised Weinstein and not retained him while knowing that he was a danger to the women he encountered at work”, states the court filing.
She claims CAA failed to warn her about Weinstein and "suggested that if she reported (him) to the authorities, she would not be believed, and he would seriously damage her career".
Ormond claims CAA then “lost interest in representing her, and her career suffered dramatically".
Reacting to the news of her lawsuit, Ormond praised the "courage" of other Weinstein survivors who had "shed light on how powerful people and institutions like my talent agents at CAA, Miramax and Disney enabled and provided cover for Weinstein to assault me and countless others.
"I seek a level of personal closure by holding them accountable to acknowledge their part and the depth of its harms and hope that all of our increased understanding will lead to further protections for all of us at work."
CAA has denied failing to protect Ormond, calling her claims against them “baseless, while Disney and Miramax have not yet commented on the case.
