Rose McGowan Responds To Former Manager Jill Messick’s Suicide

Rose McGowan has addressed the recent suicide of her former manager Jill Messick.

ROSE MCGOWAN ADDRESSES JILL MESSICK SUICIDE

Messick took her own life on Feb. 8, at the age of 50. She had been in the public eye as of late, after one of Harvey Weinstein‘s lawyers released an email she had sent, allegedly without her permission. In the letter, Messick appears to defend Weinstein against the rape allegations that McGowan brought against him. This came after the actress made public claims that Messick did very little to help her in 1997 after the alleged rape incident.

On Sunday, McGowan took to Instagram to address Messick personally, and it was apparent that she harbors no ill feelings toward her former manager. “For Jill: May your family find some measure of solace during this pain,” McGowan wrote in the caption alongside a photo of a sun and planet. “That one man could cause so much damage is astounding, but tragically true. The bad man did this to us both. May you find peace on the astral plane. May you find serenity with the stars.”

Messick’s family shared that the manager struggled with a longtime battle with bipolar disorder and depression. In a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, the family claims that her involvement in McGowan’s allegations played a large factor in her suicide. “Jill was victimized by our new culture of unlimited information sharing and a willingness to accept statement as fact,” they said. “The speed of disseminating information has carried mistruths about Jill as a person, which she was unable and unwilling to challenge. She became collateral damage in an already horrific story.”

They also spoke about the protocol that Messick followed after McGowan came forward with her rape claim about Weinstein, saying that she did what she was supposed to do. In McGowan’s recent book, Brave, she claims that Messick was wholly unhelpful during the whole ordeal.

“As we collectively seek to take action in an effort to right the wrongs so brazenly and inhumanely repeated for a generation, we must not forget one simple truth: Words have power,” the family concluded in their statement. “While we illuminate the dark corners for hidden truths, we must remember that what we say, particularly in the media, can have just as much impact if not more than our actions. We must ask more of ourselves, and of each other. We must take a moment to consider the ramifications and consequences of what we say and what we do. Words matter. Someone’s life may depend on it.”