Fresh allegations: Disgraced Weinstein’s former assistant speaks out about attempted rape

Zelda Perkins, who worked for Miramax Films company in London in the 1990s, has told BBC Newsnight that she took legal action against the media mogul after a colleague accused him of attempted rape.

In an in-depth interview, Ms Perkins told Emily Maitlis that her boss had sworn “on the lives of his wife and children” that he was innocent of the claims but signed a non-disclosure with the pair over the claims.

The former assistant said that she had been warned about Mr Weinstein’s behaviour before she started working for him.

She said: “I had one warning and I have to say that woman really saved my honour.

“All she said to me was, ‘always sit in an armchair, don’t ever sit on a sofa next to him, and always keep your puffer jacket on’.”

Outlining the claims made by her colleague, Ms Perkins went on to explain how she tried to expose the actions of the Shakespeare in Love producer in 1998.

She said: “We were at Venice film festival and he tried to rape her.

“We returned to the UK I spoke to my only senior in the Miramax offices and she suggested that I got a lawyer.

“We both resigned from the company saying that we felt we were constructively dismissed from the company because of his behaviour.”

However, lawyers at the time are meant to have told her that she “didn’t have a chance” of taking the case to court and that her best chance of justice was a non-disclosure agreement.

Ms Perkins was allegedly paid £125,000 for her silence and in return, Mr Weinstein would agree to go to therapy.

The former assistant also claimed she insisted on attending the first therapy session to make sure he attended but she doesn’t know if Mr Weinstein ever went.

She told the BBC: “The only thing I was going to have to try and prevent Harvey’s behaviour was to create an agreement that was as binding to him and as difficult for him as it was going to be for me.”

She continued: “I don’t know if he attended therapy or not, I pushed to have this meeting but his legal team kept stalling and after this process, I was actually pretty broken and exhausted and so disillusioned and I didn’t have the energy to go on fighting.”

“What’s extraordinary looking back is that you would imagine Miramax films would have been bending over backward to make sure all of those obligations were fulfilled.”

Ms Perkins was speaking out about the alleged incident for the first time after the agreement she signed with Mr Weinstein prevented her from being allowed to mention that she had signed a non-disclosure agreement even to her accountant overseeing the transfer of money.

She told the BBC Two programme: “The last 19 years have been distressing, where I’ve not been allowed to speak, where I’ve not been allowed to be myself.”

Scotland Yard and police in New York and Los Angeles have all opened investigations into the movie mogul.

Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Cara Delevingne are among the high-profile Hollywood stars who have made claims about Weinstein’s behaviour.

The movie producer has publicly denied all allegations of non-consensual sex or alleged threatening behaviour.

Meanwhile, the BBC has said Miramar told them they had no comment on Ms Perkins accusations and lawyers representing the assistant at the time of the non-disclosure agreement have said it would be inappropriate for them to comment.