Harvey Weinstein Wanted To Meet Aishwarya Rai Bachchan Alone, Says Woman Claiming To Be Her Former Manager

New Delhi: A week ago, a New York Times expose revealed the details of Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein's alleged decade-long inappropriate behaviour towards women and colleagues from the industry including actresses Angelina Jolie and Gwyneth Paltrow. Now, it is alleged that Harvey Weinstein had tried to make advances at Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan also. A woman, who identifies herself as Aishwarya's former manager, has claimed about it. In a comment posted in response to a news story by Variety,she wrote: "I used to manage Indian actress Aishwarya Rai. While dealing with Harvey, I found it comical how hard he tried to get Aishwarya alone." Harvey Weinstein is in news for multiple sexual assault allegations against him.

Of Harvey Weinstein, Simone Sheffield (who claims to be Aishwarya's former manager) wrote: "But he was a pig... Looked and acted like a 'big bully pig'. He asked me to leave the meeting numerous times and I politely declined."

Aishwarya Rai, who was crowned Miss World in 1994, has worked in International projects like Bride And Prejudice (2004), Mistress of Spices (2005) and The Pink Panther 2 (2009).

Simone Sheffield, who reportedly used to manage Aishwarya's International projects, added: "When we were leaving Mr Weinstein's office, he cornered me and said, What do I have to do to get her alone? When Aishwarya and I returned to our hotel, I sent Harvey a steel pig trough filled with diet coke as a thank you gift for the meeting. Yes, we did do business and yes, he eventually threatened me."

"Told me I'd never work in this business, blah blah blaha. what I said to him I can't print. But you can be sure, I never gave him the opportunity to even breathe on my client," Simone wrote.

Simone Sheffield is reportedly the owner of the California-based company Canyon Entertainment. It is also reported that in 2011, after being Aishwarya's International representative for over nine years, they parted ways.

Amongst all this, Twitter users are really happy with what Simone Sheffield has come up with. "Simone Sheffield is a BADASS. She stood up to that disgusting pervert, she protected her client and she one-upped him. Amazing woman," wrote one Twitter user while another wrote: "Bless Miss Simone Sheffield, can't thank her enough. Ash always has real friends. If they are not, they won't be around her."

Take a look at the Tweets here:
 

Simone Sheffield is a BADASS. She stood up to that disgusting perv, she protected her client and she one-upped him. Amazing woman.

— ani (@zutterbaebae) October 12, 2017

 

Bless Miss Simone Sheffield, can't thank her enough. Ash always has real friends. If they are not, they won't be around her. https://t.co/CFYeYpAv9z

— Srivatsa (@vatsanarayan) October 13, 2017

Many big Hollywood names including Meryl Streep, Judi Dench, George Clooney, Kate Winslet, Leonardo DiCaprio have spoken against Harvey Weinstein in recent days. Not only this but Harvey Weinstein was also fired from the studio he co-founded over allegations of sexual misconduct. After this, Harvey Weinstein's wife Georgina Chapman has also announced that she's 'leaving' him.

Harvey Weinstein's company Miramax distributed five Academy Award-winning films - The English Patient (1996), 1998's Shakespeare In Love, 2002's Chicago, 2010's The King's Speech and 2011's The Artist.

(With inputs from IANS)