Numerous women, including many actresses, had accused the now-disgraced producer of s-xual assault and harassment
Inspired by recent allegations made against Harvey Weinstein, Riverdale actress Lili Reinhart recently shared on Tumblr her own experience with s-xual harassment by a different man.
Many women, including many actresses, had accused the now-disgraced producer of s-xual misconduct, including four who have said the producer raped them. Weinstein has denied accusations of non-consensual s-x and has apologized for his past behavior towards "colleagues." He has not been charged with a crime. The scandal has inspired many stars, women and men, to come forward with their own stories of past rape and s-xual harassment by others.
In her Tumblr post, titled "In light of the Harvey Weinstein allegations," Reinhart, 21, wrote about going on a date with a "pretty significantly older" male colleague, who tried to force himself on her while they were out together.
"I was a teenager working on a project...when I started to have a crush on a guy I was working with," she said. "He was incredibly charming and charismatic– we flirted for a while before we went on our first date. He was pretty significantly older than me, but I thought of myself as mature so it didn't seem like a big deal."
"I'm not comfortable giving specific details about the situation because I don't feel it's necessary. All that matters is that he tried to force himself on me when we were on a date," she said. "I had to stop him and say 'No, I don't want that,' and 'I can't do that.' I physically walked away from the situation before it could get any worse. I remember feeling like this was a scene right out of a horror movie."
She said that after "awkward silence and me feeling completely violated and uncomfortable," the man convinced her to get in his car and she thought he would drive her home.
"As we were driving, I realized he was trying to take me back to his apartment," she wrote. "And I knew if I made it there, something bad was going to happen to me. I told him to drop me off at my home, that I didn't want to go back to his place. He said some snarky comment but reluctantly brought me to where I was staying. The next day I tried to talk to him about the situation. I told him how uncomfortable it made me and how wrong it felt."
"Thinking back on it now, the situation is hard for me to swallow," she said. "I was so young and didn't know how to handle the situation. I just knew how wrong it felt and that I had been violated. This guy proceeded to tell me that it was my fault for leading him on. Saying that 'I seemed like a s-xual girl and that I'd be down for it.' That I misled him."
Reinhart said that days later, he called her a "tease" and "the most manipulative woman he'd ever met." She said she tried to talk to him to get "clarity on the situation" and that he refused.
"I was miserable. And I felt that I needed to keep my mouth shut about the entire situation because 1. I figured no one would believe me and 2. he played a much bigger role in this project than me...he had more power," she wrote. "If I said something, maybe the production would be halted… people would be put out of work. I would be looked at as dramatic and a diva, no one would want to work with me again."
"So I understand how these women feel- the women coming forward about being harassed and assaulted by Harvey Weinstein," she said. "Feeling that they'd rather keep quiet at the time than start a discussion that could lead to them being called a liar or overly dramatic. stand with them. I believe them. I believe in standing up for yourself as a woman and coming forward about S-xual harassment. I'm coming forward about my own experience to further express how common these assaults are in this industry and how important it is that we take action to fight against it."
