From the New York Times:
he Italian actress and director Asia Argento was among the first women in the movie business to publicly accuse the producer Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault. She became a leading figure in the #MeToo movement. Her boyfriend, the culinary television star Anthony Bourdain, eagerly joined the fight.
But in the months that followed her revelations about Mr. Weinstein last October, Ms. Argento quietly arranged to pay $380,000 to her own accuser: Jimmy Bennett, a young actor and rock musician who said she had sexually assaulted him in a California hotel room years earlier, when he was only two months past his 17th birthday. She was 37. The age of consent in California is 18.
That claim and the subsequent arrangement for payments are laid out in documents between lawyers for Ms. Argento and Mr. Bennett, a former child actor who once played her son in a movie.
According to the article, Argento and Bennett have known each other ever since he was around 7 years old. Often they referred to each other as “Mother & Son”. But one day, shortly after his 17th Birthday, she invited him to her hotel room, kicked out his family member and pressured him into sex. The age of consent in California is 18.
Mr. Bennett, who has an eye condition that prevents him from driving, arrived at Ms. Argento’s hotel room that morning with a family member, according to his notice of intent.
The document lays out Mr. Bennett’s account: Ms. Argento asked the family member to leave so she could be alone with the actor. She gave him alcohol to drink and showed him a series of notes she had written to him on hotel stationery. Then she kissed him, pushed him back on the bed, removed his pants and performed oral sex. She climbed on top of him and the two had intercourse, the document says. She then asked him to take a number of photos.
He has had trouble acting ever since that incident, and is suing her for $3.5 million in emotional damages.
There’s a lot more to this article. Apparently Bennett’s parents haven’t been the most supportive, and others have taken advantage of him. But Ms. Argento’s actions appear to have particularly wounded him. Seeing her come out as a defender of the sexually assaulted was too much, and he decided to sue.
In my opinion, the fact that she paid him off is particularly damning. The fact that the payment appears to have happened WHILE SHE WAS LEADING ON #METOO is even worse. What this shows is that power and money are large factors in this sordid, disgusting business. To be honest, I am more convinced than ever that Hollywood is simply full of monsters. There is a long running, persistent conspiracy theory about Hollywood and this sort of thing regarding children, and now I begin to question if there isn’t some modicum of truth to it.
EDIT: Updated title to better reflect facts.