Alison Steadman breaks silence on Harvey Weinstein encounter

Alison Steadman is the recent person to share an uncomfortable encounter with the disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein.

The Gavin and Stacey star, 78, was speaking to The Times about the anticipation building for the show’s finale on Christmas when the conversation switched to Weinstein, 72.

Steadman recalled that she, too, had a bone-chilling encounter with the producer when he first came to see her perform in The Rise and Fall of Little Voice in the West End. The actress noticed something strange about his gaze when first looked.

“Someone said, ‘Harvey wants to take us for drinks.’ I went to the pub, and I remember he stood there and looked at me like that …”

The actress expressed that while it was a confusing first impression, it didn’t stop there.

“I thought, ‘What’s going on? You’ve just seen the show and I was in it.’ He wouldn’t speak to me. The next day [her co-star] Jane Horrocks said, ‘Isn’t it great we’re doing a film version?’ I said, ‘I don’t think I am.’ I wasn’t a name, I hadn’t been nominated for a Golden Globe.”

The actress got candid about now one but two interactions as they next met at the BAFTAs where she stood next to Weinstein as they entered—asserting she was not surprised when the revelations about him came out. 

“Again he looked at me. If he’d ignored me that would have been one thing, but it was like he was making sure to tell me, ‘I’m not going to use you.’ It was absolutely horrible. So when I heard all this stuff about him, I thought, ‘I’m not in the least surprised,’” she further told the publication. 

Weinstein was again summoned to court earlier this month when he pleaded not guilty to a new first-degree felony charge.