Ashley Judd Gives First TV Interview About Harvey Weinstein Harassment Incident

Ashley Judd sat down her first TV interview since the Harvey Weinstein scandal blew open.

ASHLEY JUDD GAVE FIRST TV INTERVIEW SINCE WEINSTEIN SCANDAL BEGAN

The actress, whose account of sexual harassment from the producer was one of the first to make headlines in the New York Times exposé, spoke about her experience on ABC’s Good Morning America. Since then, more than 60 women have come forward with similar accusations. “Who was I to tell?” Judd said in the interview. “I knew it was disgusting. Was I going to tell the concierge who sent me up to the room?”

Judd shared that she did tell her parents and a few people in Hollywood after Weinstein tricked her into coming into his hotel room and pressed her for massages and sexual favors. She explained how she felt responsible and disgusting for being roped into going to his room, but now she feels lucky that she got out. “It’s a very important word — shame — and it’s a very important thing to talk about,” Judd said. “We all do the best we can, and our best is good enough. And it’s really okay to have responded however we responded.”

In order to get away in that moment, Judd panicked and told him what he wanted to hear. “He kept coming at me with all this other stuff, and finally I just said, ‘When I win an Oscar in one of your movies, okay?’ And he was like, ‘Yeah, when you get nominated.’’ And I said, ‘No! When I win an Oscar.’ And I fled. I just fled,” she described. “Am I proud of that? I’m of two minds: The part that shames myself says no,” she said firmly. “The part of me that understands the way shame works says, ‘That was absolutely brilliant. Good job, kid. You got out of there. Well done.'”

Judd also shared that she had “no warning” before she met with Weinstein of his reputation for exhibiting this offensive behavior toward women. “That’s his pattern of sexual predation. That’s how he rolled,” she said.

Interviewer Diane Sawyer showed a photo of Judd and Weinstein, taken after the attack, in which Judd is smiling. Weinstein’s team tried to use the photograph as evidence that Judd and the producer were on friendly terms. “No,” Judd said strongly. “That’s deny, attack, reverse the order of offender and victim.”

Then Sawyer showed another photo from the same evening, where Weinstein is pictured holding Judd’s hand, and her expression is one of discomfort. “I hoped I didn’t pass him, but I did, and he obviously grabbed my hand,” Judd recalled. “The look on my face is abject terror. I can see it in my eyes… It’s very gross. It’s very gross. I feel for that 28- or 29-year-old woman.”