Rose McGowan says that she immediately feared the #MeToo movement was “in jeopardy” after a mutual friend claimed that Asia Argento had admitted to sexual misconduct.
In a fiery statement released Monday, McGowan — who had become close friends with Argento since they both accused Harvey Weinstein of sexually assaulting them — says that Rain Dove, a model McGowan is dating, told her that Argento had said in text messages that she had had sex with co-star Jimmy Bennett when he was 17.
McGowan said she encouraged Dove to turn the texts over to police, and wrote, “What was hard was the shell shock of the realization that everything the MeToo movement stood for was about to be in jeopardy.”
In the statement, McGowan also called on Argento to come clean about her alleged behavior, writing, “Asia you were my friend . . . Do the right thing. Be honest. Be fair. Let justice stay its course. Be the person you wish Harvey could have been.”
On Aug. 19, the New York Times reported that Argento had paid Bennett $380,000 to keep quiet about allegedly sexually assaulting him in a California hotel five years ago.