A Southern California woman accused disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault during an emotional news conference on Friday.
Accompanied by celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred, Heather Kerr said she was in her 20s and an aspiring actress when she first encountered Weinstein in 1989.
Kerr, who guest-starred on television shows “Facts of Life” and “Mama’s Family,” was working part-time for an entertainment business manager. One of his clients was Weinstein.
“He called the office almost every day and I would answer the phones. He would ask me questions about myself and I would tell him I’m an actress. He offered to meet with me,” Kerr said.
At the urging of her boss, Kerr agreed to meet with Weinstein at his office in Westwood.
“I arrived and a person who appeared to be a secretary was leaving. She gave me a look like, ‘I hope you’re ready for this.’ It was unsettling,” said Kerr.
Weinstein then allegedly told Kerr to sit on the couch, sat down next her and began repeatedly asking her if she was any good, Kerr said.
“He said that if he was going to introduce me around town to directors and producers, he needed to know if I was any good. He kept repeating that word. I offered to provide him with a reel of my acting work,” said Kerr. “He had this sly, sleazy smile on his face. The fact that he was siting so close to me on this couch, I started to get a sick feeling in stomach.”
Kerr told reporters that Weinstein then unzipped his pants and sexually assaulted her, explaining that this was “the way things work in Hollywood.”
“The next thing I knew he had unzipped his fly and pulled out his penis. He then grabbed my hand and pulled me towards him and forced my hand onto his penis and held it there,” Kerr said, with tears in her eyes.
“I was frozen with fear. Trying to remain calm, trying not to freak out, because, after all, there was nobody else in the office,” said Kerr. “He told me that first I would have sex with him, and then he would take me to parties and show me who I needed to sleep with after that. But first he needed to know how good I was.”
Weinstein then allegedly insulted Kerr and told her she was “not that good looking but that he would be willing to help anyway.”
“Like he was doing me a favor,” said Kerr.
She said she got up, started backing out of the room and thanked him for his time before running to the elevator. Kerr, who began her career at 17 in 1978, resigned and quit acting following the alleged assault.
“I felt so powerless because he is, after all, very powerful and very well known and very successful,” Kerr said.
She spoke to news media at Allred’s Wilshire Boulevard office in the Beverly Grove area.
Weinstein has been accused by more than 40 woman, including actresses Angelina Jolie, Lupita Nyong’o and Gwyneth Paltrow, of sexual misconduct, harassment, assault or rape.
The Los Angeles Police Department announced on Thursday that they are investigating Weinstein after an Italian actress accused him of raping her in 2013.
Through a spokeswoman, Weinstein has “unequivocally denied” all allegations of non-consensual sex, according to CNN.
The 65-year-old is currently seeking treatment for sex addiction at a rehabilitation center in Arizona.
