“You stand up to a bully, and sometimes you win,” Hawn said.
Harvey Weinstein's image couldn't possibly get any worse, but Goldie Hawn's latest revelation suggests otherwise. The Academy Award-winning actor revealed to Variety that she planned to produce and appear in a Chicago musical adaptation when she was in her early 40s. Weinstein, the previous head of Miramax Films, ordered a new script in which her character was 23 years old. “Harvey undermined Madonna and me,” Hawn told the outlet. “I really don’t know how she felt about it. You know, she just went with the tide.”
In the late 1980s project, Hawn stated that she was hired to play Velma Kelly while Madonna, who had already achieved international success with Like a Virgin, was slated to play Roxy Hart, per HuffPost.
Goldie Hawn Reflects on Her Failed ‘Chicago’ Movie With Madonna and Telling Off Harvey Weinstein: ‘Don’t F— With Me’. https://t.co/vRuBlzVlEf
— Variety (@Variety) March 8, 2023
Hawn addressed the now-disgraced movie mogul when he intervened. “‘Don’t f**k with me',” she told him. “‘Because I know just what you’re doing. We made a deal.’”
But Hawn stayed out and Weinstein's rewrite went unfinished for years. When his studio managed to turn the project into an Oscar-winning movie in 2002, Catherine Zeta-Jones eventually took home the prize for Best Supporting Actress in the same part that Goldie Hawn had worked so hard on.
Catherine Zeta-Jones (2002)
— Leider Valdes 🍿 (@leider_valdes) March 6, 2023
“Chicago” pic.twitter.com/ACxRWmqEak
Hawn, who had already won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress playing Cactus Flower in 1970, insisted Weinstein pay her the agreed-upon rate for her work and was successful. “You stand up to a bully, and sometimes you win,” Hawn told Variety about getting Weinstein to compensate her. She added, “I said to him afterward, ‘You know what the best part of you paying me is? Not the money. You restored my faith in dignity and ethics.’ Little did I know.”
After decades of sexual assault allegations, Weinstein was finally found guilty of a criminal sex act and third-degree rape in 2020 and given a 23-year sentence. In a subsequent trial in February, he was found guilty and will now effectively live out the rest of his life in prison.
To that, Hawn told Variety, “He’s finally living his karma.”
Former Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein has been sentenced to 16 years in a Los Angeles rape case. He's already serving a 23-year sentence in New York. https://t.co/sr9pBcsXBs pic.twitter.com/o9TYIbVyjP
— CNN (@CNN) February 23, 2023
Although Weinstein is appealing his conviction for rape and sexual assault, witnesses believe justice has been done, per Variety. “Today, he will be sentenced. He cannot hurt anyone anymore,” said Evgeniya Chernyshova, known in the case as Jane Doe #1. It was Chernyshova, who recently revealed her identity, whose testimony resulted in a conviction for Weinstein. “I truly believe that this verdict and the maximum sentence, will restore the faith in the justice system for many survivors out there,” Chernyshova told the judge, moments before Weinstein was handed his punishment.
She’s one of the primary reasons Harvey Weinstein will be in prison for the rest of his life, and she has been anonymous until now. In her first interview, I profile the woman known as “Jane Doe 1.” Her name is Evgeniya Chernyshova and this is her story. https://t.co/jefECrFO1v
— Rebecca Keegan (@ThatRebecca) February 24, 2023
References:
https://variety.com/2023/awards/news/goldie-hawn-oscars-regret-retiring-acting-1235545091/
Cover Image Source: (L) Getty Images | Rodin Eckenroth ; (R) Getty Images | Stephanie Keith
