The Harvey Weinstein sexual assault allegations in Hollywood has opened a can of worms with multiple men in positions of power being accused of sexual assault. The #MeToo, as well as the #TimesUp movement, has been instrumental in giving women a strong voice. Women who earlier did not have the strength to speak up on these issues are empowered and have learnt to recognise and voice their plight.
Over the past few days, we have seen some shocking names emerge in this respect. People who we have loved watching for years like James Franco, Kevin Spacey, Matt Damon, Charlie Sheen, Ben Affleck, Casey Affleck, Aziz Ansari to name a few.
Unfortunately, another name has been added to this list and it’s Michael Douglas. A former employee of the actor has gone public with her statement accusing Douglas of sexually charged comments.
Susan Braudy, who is an author and journalist alleged that during her time working with the actor in 1989, he talked at length about his mistresses and her appearance. A horrific incident occurred when she went to his apartment to discuss a script. She said,
She also claimed that Michael asked her to sweetly sign a confidentiality agreement and it was in that moment that she knew he was about to fire her. With the help of her lawyer, she kept postponing it and was able to get out of the company without signing one.
As reported by USA Today, she also appeared on the Today show on Friday and described how her friends were worried about her. She said,
“He thought he was the king of the world and that he could humiliate me without any repercussions. One of my friends said you better not tell people about him. People were frightened for me.”
Michael has refuted all claims of the woman and called it an unfortunate and complete fabrication. He said,
“That was completely untrue. I’d confess to anything I thought I was responsible for. And it was most certainly not masturbating in front of this woman. This reeks.”
He reiterated his denial of the claims and said that he was not even aware of her discomfort and said,
His wife Catherine Zeta-Jones has also come out in support of her husband and spoke to People about the allegations surrounding him.
She said that it happened before she was in the picture and added,
“Michael came out with that pre-emptive statement. He was articulate, said it from the heart, was honest, open and transparent. He now has to take the next step for where he goes from here. It happened 30 years ago, it was B.C.: before Catherine.”
Believe it or not, a woman has the right to choose when to come out in public about her sexual assault. People need to understand that’s it’s not easy confronting such a traumatic ordeal in one’s life and it requires a lot of courage to do so. Only time will tell how many more such sexual harrasment incidents in Hollywood are yet to come out in the open.