Jennifer Lawrence has opened up further about Harvey Weinstein, saying the film producer, who has been accused of sexual assault and harassment by multiple women, had been a father figure to her.
“Just speaking for myself, I had known him since I was 20, and he had only ever been nice to me – except for the moments that he wasn’t, and then I called him an a-hole, and we moved on,” she told Oprah Winfrey in a new interview for The Hollywood Reporter.
“He was paternal to me. So I needed a moment to process everything because I thought I knew this guy, and then he’s being accused of rape,” she continued. “We all knew he was a dog, we knew that he was a … tough guy, a brute, a tough guy to negotiate with.”
“I didn’t know that he was a rapist. And it’s so widespread, the abuse, from so many different people — it’s directors, it’s producers — that I think everybody needed to [process it]. Everybody needs to deal with this in their own way; everybody needs to heal.”
When allegations against Harvey Weinstein first surfaced, Lawrence said she was “deeply disturbed” in a statement to PEOPLE.
“I worked with Harvey five years ago and I did not experience any form of harassment personally, nor did I know about any of these allegations,” the Oscar-award winning actress said. “This kind of abuse is inexcusable and absolutely upsetting.”
“My heart goes out to all of the women affected by these gross actions. And I want to thank them for their bravery to come forward,” she finished.