Like much of America, I’ve been watching the Harvey Weinstein scandal unfold, appalled but not surprised. More than 40 women have now accused the famous and powerful movie producer, whose films have won 81 Oscars, of sexual harassment and even rape.
The Weinstein Company, which he co-founded, fired him. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences threw him out. The Los Angeles police have opened an investigation.
Still, Hollywood has always been about starlets who want to make it big and powerful men who took advantage of them — that’s why everyone knows about the “casting couch.”
So I wondered — was Weinstein just a prolific user of the couch, or was he disordered?
The answer came in an article published by the New Yorker yesterday in which current and former employees of the Weinstein Company described their boss’s behavior. Although no one used the word, they described a raging psychopath.
Here’s how the article starts:
Harvey throttled someone. Harvey called an employee a f*cking moron. Harvey threw the shoes, the book, the phone, the eggs. Harvey went to work with his shirt on inside-out and no one had the courage to tell him. If you f*cking say anything to him, the assistant said to the other assistant, I’m dead. Harvey would eat the fries off your plate, smash them in his face, and wash them down with a cigarette and a Diet Coke. He belittled and berated: You can’t name three Frank Capra movies? What the f*ck are you even doing here? He was funny; he was grotesque, a boisterous, boorish, outrageous, gluttonous caricature of a man, a Hollywood type. A “man of appetites”; a philanderer; a cartoon beast, surrounded by beauties.
A group of employees submitted a statement to the New Yorker saying that they didn’t know how bad Weinstein was. Here’s how they described him:
- a man with an infamous temper
- manipulative
- a womanizer with extramarital affairs
- unbridled ambition
- aggressive deal making
- insatiable desire to win and get what he wanted
- unabashed love for celebrity
So Harvey Weinstein may be more than a sexual predator. These are all examples of psychopathic behavior.
Harvey Weinstein’s former employees reckon with what they knew and what they didn’t, on NewYorker.com.
Sociopaths thrive on exerting control and inflicting emotional pain
He stated to the press outside his daughter home: he “is a good guy” and he was “looking for a second chance” (paraphrasing).
RED FLAG = he is moving right to “second chance”. He takes ZERO responsibility for his horrific actions for 30-40 years! He has ZERO remorse. He just wants to steamroll right on with his life & continue his abusive ways as if nothing is wrong with his actions. There are reports that he did not want the New York Times article to come out on a Sunday but instead on a week day, so that not that less people would read the article.
This quote sums it all up:
“In order to escape accountability for his crimes, the perpetrator does everything in his power to promote forgetting. If secrecy fails, the perpetrator attacks the credibility of his victim. If he cannot silence her absolutely, he tries to make sure no one listens.”
― Judith Lewis Herman, Trauma and Recovery (book): The Aftermath of Violence – From Domestic Abuse to Political Terror
My heart breaks for his wife. I cant even imagine the fear she lived under, the power he held over her & the abuse she endured. If he was that abusive in public, we all know that he was 1000 times worse with his wife behind closed doors. I hope that she finds her way here to LF or at least to a counselor that is extremely knowledgable with this kind of abuse & behavior.
Donna, thank you for writing this post.
Radar online. com reports:
“Disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein is leaving sex rehab after only one week of treatment at an Arizona facility, and his psychologist at the center is telling all!
Weinstein, 65, took the program “seriously” and will be headed home on Saturday to begin “significant outpatient therapy,” according to reports.
A psychologist for the fallen producer reportedly said Weinstein was “invested in the program” as he helped him focus on “dealing with his anger, his attitude toward others, boundary work and the beginnings of work on empathy.”
“He showed up for all the meetings and was fully engaged,” the professional, whose name has been kept private, said. “There were things that triggered [Weinstein’s] anger and our job was to help him recognize where it was coming from and how to control it. But he was not venting about some conspiracy to get him. It was an appropriate display of anger.”
I think it is very interesting that the therapist made the statement “and the beginning of work on empathy”. BIG RED FLAG “empathy”.
Psychologists can’t talk publicly about their clients. Weinstein must have given permission for him to say it — to make it look like Weinstein is a changed man. This sounds like a PR move.
I agree. I was thinking that myself. In view of HIPAA, if the shrink talked, it had to be with Whine-stein’s encouragement.
Donna, yes I thought about the PR angle. But maybe, more on the lines that Therapist agreed to make this statement for several reasons: One being to not damage the reputation of their facility, remember Weinstein loved to have all of Hollywood in fear of not having future work & also there were reports that Weinstein was not following the rules at the clinic, had anger issues & was sleeping during therapy sessions. Maybe the Therapist just wanted calm restored to the facility. As we all know, people with traits of a sociopaths bring nothing but drama & chaos where ever they go. Was this a way for the Clinic to impose the “No contact rule” without the client realizing. The Therapist has many sociopath traits woven into the statement.