Gwyneth Paltrow opens up about working with 'bully' Harvey Weinstein

Actor says she once felt it was her 'duty' to push back against the movie mogul

Gwyneth Paltrow attends the Guggenheim International Gala Dinner made possible by Dior at Solomon R Guggenheim Museum on 15 November, 2018 in New York City. ((Photo by Nicholas Hunt/Getty Images for Dior))

Gwyneth Paltrow has opened up about working with Harvey Weinstein, describing him as a “bully” and explaining she once felt a sense of duty to stand up to him.

The actor reminisced about her “biggest fights” with the disgraced movie mogul in an interview with Variety, published on Tuesday.

“He was a bully,” Paltrow told the magazine.

“I never had a problem standing up to him. I wasn’t scared of him. I also felt for a period of time, I was the consumer face of Miramax, and I felt it was my duty to push back against him. We had a lot of fights.”

The actor alleges that Weinstein refused to pay her some of the money stemming from her performance in the 1996 Jane Austen adaptation Emma.

She also claims that the producer considered replacing Joseph Fiennes with Ben Affleck in Shakespeare in Love – an allegation denied by Weinstein in a statement to the publication.

Paltrow also described Weinstein as a “difficult boss” with whom she had a “fraught relationship”.

The actor is one of many women who have publicy accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct.

In a story published in 2017 by The New York Times, she said that when she was 22, before shooting began for Emma, Weinstein summoned her to his hotel suite, placed his hands on her, and suggested they go to the bedroom for massages.

Weinstein’s spokeswoman told the newspaper at the time that he unequivocally denied all allegations of non-consensual sex.