George Clooney reveals wife Amal was sexually harassed
George Clooney is the latest Hollywood star to speak out about sexual harassment in the wake of allegations against Harvey Weinstein, revealing in a new interview that his own wife, human rights lawyer Amal, has experienced it in her line of work.
“My wife is a very smart, very together, very accomplished human rights lawyer and she said, ‘There have been times in my life, in the law community, [that] I had to tell someone to knock it off,’ so it happens everywhere,” the 56-year-old told Extra.
The Money Monster star added that he hopes the growing number of accusations of sexual harassment and assault will change the culture of Hollywood heavyweights abusing their positions of power.
“This wasn’t just guys hitting on girls, this is assault,” he said. “If we don’t address this and really go after Harvey, it will come back. There has to be some good that comes out of all of this and the good is going to have to be that women feel safe to speak up, that they are believed and hopefully be enough that it scares any man who would behave like that from doing it.”
In another interview with Variety, Clooney slammed director Woody Allen (who has long been the subject of sexual assault allegations himself) for defending Weinstein and urging against a “witch hunt”.
“That’s a stupid thing to say,” Clooney fumed. “The reality is, it’s not a witch hunt to these women who are trapped in a hotel room and told they’re going to get a part and, suddenly, here comes Harvey Weinstein in his birthday suit. That’s not a witch hunt; that’s an assault."