Harvey Weinstein's personal assistant breaks legal agreement after 19 years to reveal her experience

You never knew if you were his confidante or going to be screamed at

Harvey Weinstein's former personal assistant has broken her confidentiality agreement to detail her experience working for the Hollywood producer.

On Tuesday evening, Zelda Perkins, who says she signed a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) in 1998, broke it to share her perspective with the BBC.

The once-powerful Hollywood producer has been accused of sexual misconduct by more than 30 women - claims he has strongly denied.

Breaking a near-20-year legally-enforced silence, Ms Perkins said of Weinstein: “You never knew if you were his confidante or going to be screamed at."

She called Weinstein a "repulsive monster" and a "master manipulator" but also acknowledged that he was a "brilliant person to be around".

The former assistant said things came to a head with Weinstein in 1998 at The Venice Film Festival when he allegedly tried to rape her colleague. Weinstein denied the attempted rape.

When they arrived back in the UK, Ms Perkins says she spoke to her only manager, and she suggested she get a lawyer.

They were left with minimal options, she said, because they didn’t go to the police in Venice.

As a result, she says she signed a non-disclosure agreement with Weinstein in exchange for £125,000,

“It ultimately would have been two under 25-year-old women's words against Harvey Weinstein," she explained.

She said she knew the only way to get Weinstein to the table was by making a monetary request, so Ms Perkins made an agreement that would be as binding for him as it would be for her: a way to prevent him from harming other people.

While the agreement's terms are said to have included Weinstein going to a therapist and being dismissed if anyone made a sexual harassment claim against him among others, she never saw proof of anything in the contract because one clause of the settlement barred her from having a copy of it.

"It's a smoking gun," she claimed.

Perkins concluded: “You can’t change the Harvey Weinstein’s of the world, but if the rules or laws that we have to protect ourselves enable that, then there’s no point in having them.”

Weinstein's lawyers told the BBC that Weinstein categorically denied engaging in any non-consensual conduct or alleged threatening behaviour.