In an expansive chat with The Guardian about her new book about children’s rights, actress Angelina Jolie also opened up about her experience with disgraced Hollywood movie mogul Harvey Weinstein.
Jolie was asked about her experience of being disrespected in Hollywood, when she said, “Well, no surprise, Harvey Weinstein. I worked with him when I was young,” she said.
Jolie made ‘Playing By Heart’, which was released by Miramax, in 1998. It was then she said she had the “bad experience” with the producer that she briefly described to the New York Times in 2017.
“It was beyond a pass, it was something I had to escape,” Jolie added. “I stayed away and warned people about him. I remember telling Jonny [Lee Miller], my first husband, who was great about it, to spread the word to other guys — don’t let girls go alone with him. I was asked to do ‘The Aviator’, but I said no because he was involved. (Miramax produced the film.) I never associated or worked with him again. It was hard for me when Brad did.”
The Brad being referenced, of course, is Hollywood star Brad Pitt, with whom she was in a relationship with for 12 years and was married to for two years and from whom she is now divorced.
Pitt worked with Weinstein on ‘Inglourious Basterds’. That 2009 film, like many Quentin Tarnatino projects, was released by the Weinstein Company in the US. Pitt also later worked with TWC on ‘Killing Them Softly’ in 2012.
“We fought about it. Of course it hurt,” said Jolie, that he worked with Weinstein after she told him about the incident. She also added that she avoided events for the film where she might bump into Weinstein.
Last year, Weinstein received a 23-year sentence in New York after being found guilty of two sex crime felony charges.
Jolie’s new book is titled ‘Know Your Rights and Claim Them: A Guide for Youth’, is written in partnership with child rights lawyer Geraldine Van Bueren QC and Amnesty International.
