Game of Thrones actor Lena Headey says rejecting sex with Harvey Weinstein could have harmed her career.
The British star, who plays Cersei Lannister in the HBO series, told The Sunday Times that her refusal to have sex with the disgraced film producer saw a lack of roles offered to her by ths studio Miramax.
She said: “After he was discovered to be a slimeball, on a grander scale than me just knowing it, I did start thinking, ‘F***, maybe because I didn’t shag him, that’s impacted a decade of my working life’, because I did two jobs for Miramax [the film company founded by Weinstein] before those incidents, and after that there was nothing.”
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Headey previously recounted two experiences she alleges she had with Weinstein in the wake of the scandal that saw him face dozens worth of sexual harassment and assault allegations, all of which he has denied.
She claims that the first time she met Weinstein was at the Venice Film Festival in 2005 where, after taking her for a walk by the water, he “made some suggestive comment and gesture”.
1/24 2017
A picture shows the messages “#Me too” and #Balancetonporc (“expose your pig”) on the hand of a protester during a gathering against gender-based and sexual violence called by the Effronte-e-s Collective, on the Place de la Republique square in Paris
AFP/Getty
2/24 2018
Italian actress Asia Argento (C) and US singer and actress Rose McGowan, who both accuse Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault, take part in a march organised by ‘Non Una Di Meno’ (Me too) movement as part of the International Women’s Day in Rome
AFP/Getty
3/24 2017
Victims of sexual harassment, sexual assault, sexual abuse and their supporters protest during a #MeToo march in Hollywood, California
AFP/Getty
4/24 2018
South Korean women staging a monthly protest against secretly-filmed spycam pornography in Seoul. Since May 2018, the monthly demonstrations against secretly-filmed spycam pornography in Seoul has shattered records to become the biggest-ever women’s protest in South Korea where the global #MeToo movement has unleashed an unprecedented wave of female-led activism
AFP/Getty
5/24 2017
Swedish MEP Linnéa Engström sits behind a placard placed on her desk that reads “Me too” during a debate about combating sexual harassment and abuse in the EU at the European Parliament in Strasbourg
AFP/Getty
6/24 2018
Activists participate in front of the Brandenburg Gate in a demonstration for women’s rights in Berlin
Getty
7/24 2018
A McDonald’s employee holds a sign during a protest against sexual harassment in the workplace in Chicago
AFP/Getty
8/24 2018
An activist participates in the 2018 #MeToo March in Hollywood
Getty
9/24 2018
Women protest in New York
Getty
10/24 2018
Women hold a banner reading “still feminist” with the Eiffel tower in background
AFP/Getty
11/24 2017
French activist Jean-Baptiste Redde, aka Voltuan, holds a placard as protesters take part in a gathering against gender-based and sexual violence in Paris
AFP/Getty
12/24 2018
Activists and advocates for survivors of sexual abuse, including Democratic candidate for Illinois governor at the time JB Prtizker (left), gather in the Federal Building Plaza to protest the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh in Chicago, Illinois after the Senate Judiciary Committee voted out Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh and agreed to an additional week of investigation into accusations of sexual assault against him before the full Senate votes on his confirmation. Christine Blasey Ford accused Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her when they were both teens
Getty
13/24 2018
A group describing themselves as #MeToo/#YoTambien survivors, hold a candlelight vigil outside the Mexico Consulate to support the women taking part in the human caravan heading through Mexico to the US border
AFP/Getty
14/24 2017
Victims of sexual harassment, sexual assault, sexual abuse and their supporters protest during a #MeToo march in Hollywood
AFP/Getty
15/24 2018
South Korean demonstrators hold banners during a rally to mark International Women’s Day
AFP/Getty
16/24 2018
Dozens of women and men attend a rally and march in Washington Square Park for international Women’s Day in New York
Getty
17/24 2017
People carry signs addressing the issue of sexual harassment at a #MeToo rally outside of Trump International Hotel in New York
Getty
18/24 2017
Victims of sexual harassment, sexual assault, sexual abuse and their supporters protest during a #MeToo march in Hollywood
AFP/Getty
19/24 2018
South Korean demonstrators hold banners during a rally to mark International Women’s Day
AFP/Getty
20/24 2018
Dozens of protesters against the confirmation of Republican Supreme court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh gather outside of Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer’s office on the afternoon that Professor Christine Blasey Ford testified against Kavanaugh in New York
Getty
21/24 2018
Activists and advocates for survivors of sexual abuse gather in the Federal Building Plaza in Chicago
Getty
22/24 2018
Dozens of women and men attend a rally and march in Washington Square Park
Getty
23/24 2017
People carry signs addressing the issue of sexual harassment at a #MeToo rally outside of Trump International Hotel
Getty
24/24 2018
Activists and advocates for survivors of sexual abuse gather in the Federal Building Plaza to protest the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh
Getty
1/24 2017
A picture shows the messages “#Me too” and #Balancetonporc (“expose your pig”) on the hand of a protester during a gathering against gender-based and sexual violence called by the Effronte-e-s Collective, on the Place de la Republique square in Paris
AFP/Getty
2/24 2018
Italian actress Asia Argento (C) and US singer and actress Rose McGowan, who both accuse Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault, take part in a march organised by ‘Non Una Di Meno’ (Me too) movement as part of the International Women’s Day in Rome
AFP/Getty
3/24 2017
Victims of sexual harassment, sexual assault, sexual abuse and their supporters protest during a #MeToo march in Hollywood, California
AFP/Getty
4/24 2018
South Korean women staging a monthly protest against secretly-filmed spycam pornography in Seoul. Since May 2018, the monthly demonstrations against secretly-filmed spycam pornography in Seoul has shattered records to become the biggest-ever women’s protest in South Korea where the global #MeToo movement has unleashed an unprecedented wave of female-led activism
AFP/Getty
5/24 2017
Swedish MEP Linnéa Engström sits behind a placard placed on her desk that reads “Me too” during a debate about combating sexual harassment and abuse in the EU at the European Parliament in Strasbourg
AFP/Getty
6/24 2018
Activists participate in front of the Brandenburg Gate in a demonstration for women’s rights in Berlin
Getty
7/24 2018
A McDonald’s employee holds a sign during a protest against sexual harassment in the workplace in Chicago
AFP/Getty
8/24 2018
An activist participates in the 2018 #MeToo March in Hollywood
Getty
9/24 2018
Women protest in New York
Getty
10/24 2018
Women hold a banner reading “still feminist” with the Eiffel tower in background
AFP/Getty
11/24 2017
French activist Jean-Baptiste Redde, aka Voltuan, holds a placard as protesters take part in a gathering against gender-based and sexual violence in Paris
AFP/Getty
12/24 2018
Activists and advocates for survivors of sexual abuse, including Democratic candidate for Illinois governor at the time JB Prtizker (left), gather in the Federal Building Plaza to protest the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh in Chicago, Illinois after the Senate Judiciary Committee voted out Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh and agreed to an additional week of investigation into accusations of sexual assault against him before the full Senate votes on his confirmation. Christine Blasey Ford accused Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her when they were both teens
Getty
13/24 2018
A group describing themselves as #MeToo/#YoTambien survivors, hold a candlelight vigil outside the Mexico Consulate to support the women taking part in the human caravan heading through Mexico to the US border
AFP/Getty
14/24 2017
Victims of sexual harassment, sexual assault, sexual abuse and their supporters protest during a #MeToo march in Hollywood
AFP/Getty
15/24 2018
South Korean demonstrators hold banners during a rally to mark International Women’s Day
AFP/Getty
16/24 2018
Dozens of women and men attend a rally and march in Washington Square Park for international Women’s Day in New York
Getty
17/24 2017
People carry signs addressing the issue of sexual harassment at a #MeToo rally outside of Trump International Hotel in New York
Getty
18/24 2017
Victims of sexual harassment, sexual assault, sexual abuse and their supporters protest during a #MeToo march in Hollywood
AFP/Getty
19/24 2018
South Korean demonstrators hold banners during a rally to mark International Women’s Day
AFP/Getty
20/24 2018
Dozens of protesters against the confirmation of Republican Supreme court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh gather outside of Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer’s office on the afternoon that Professor Christine Blasey Ford testified against Kavanaugh in New York
Getty
21/24 2018
Activists and advocates for survivors of sexual abuse gather in the Federal Building Plaza in Chicago
Getty
22/24 2018
Dozens of women and men attend a rally and march in Washington Square Park
Getty
23/24 2017
People carry signs addressing the issue of sexual harassment at a #MeToo rally outside of Trump International Hotel
Getty
24/24 2018
Activists and advocates for survivors of sexual abuse gather in the Federal Building Plaza to protest the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh
Getty
Headey ran into Weinstein in Los Angeles years later where she alleges he kept asking her questions about her love life. Headey said that, when Weinstein invited her to his hotel room to show her a script, the “energy shifted”.
The actor says she said to the producer, “I’m not interested in anything other than work, please don’t think I got in [the lift] with you for any other reason.”
She claims that he later whispered in her ear: “Don’t tell anyone about this, not your manager, not your agent.”
Headey will reprise her role in the final season of Game of Thrones, which begins on HBO and Sky Atlantic in April. A season eight theory currently doing the rounds suggests her character Cersei may be the surprise saviour of Westeros in the battle with the White Walkers.
She will next be seen in in family comedy Fighting with My Family.
