Sexual harassment is out of the closet. With men like Harvey Weinstein and Kevin Spacey in Hollywood being named and shamed, India too has witnessed the case of Jeetendra, who has been accused of sexual assault.
Now Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has come out in support of the #MeToo movement. She claimed that it is not restricted to the film industry. During the interaction with the Sunday Telegraph, Ash declared, “It has brought out a lot of conversation and sharing. The good thing is that people are talking. I don’t think this needs to restrict itself to one part of the world. But this idea does not limit itself to show business or the film industry. It is people discussing it from all walks of life.”
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Ash, who is a global icon, added, “If a woman feels compromised and she feels the need to share an experience that has completely challenged her sense of being, it is amazing that she comes out, speaks forth about it, and takes the people to task. This idea does not limit itself to show business or the film industry. It is people discussing it from all walks of life.”
Last year, in a report in Variety.com, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan's international talent manager had claimed that Weinstein had wanted to meet the actor alone, but her former talent manager saved her from being a victim. Aishwarya and Harvey had met several times in the past, during AmFar Gala and the Cannes International Film Festival.
Ash's talent manager Simone Sheffield wrote on Variety.com, "I use to manage Indian actress Aishwarya Rai. While dealing with Harvey, I found it comical how hard he tried to get Aishwarya alone. 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. When we were leaving his office, he cornered me and said, 'What do I have to do to get her alone?' I told him to kiss my black ass."
She had added, "When Ash 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. 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."
