Harvey Weinstein says he’s not the villain Hollywood made him out to be.
In his first on-camera interview since being convicted of multiple sex crimes, the former movie mogul told conservative commentator Candace Owens that he was “wrongfully convicted” and accused his most prominent accusers of fabricating stories. Speaking from a prison cell at Rikers Island, Weinstein rejected the charges that led to his fall from power and portrayed himself as a casualty of a media-fueled campaign.
“I hurt my family. I hurt my friends. I cheated on my wife. And that was a mistake, you know, a terrible mistake,” Weinstein said. “But I did not commit these crimes. I swear that before God, and the people watching now, and on my family.”
Weinstein, 72, referred to his 2020 conviction for a criminal sexual act and third-degree rape — overturned in 2024 on procedural grounds — and a separate 2022 conviction for rape that still stands. He insisted the first trial was fundamentally flawed because the judge allowed testimony about unrelated accusations.
“Oh, I was not a good boss,” he said. “I was tough and I was demanding, and I should have been better at it, but I wasn’t. I had a temper. You know, I just should have controlled myself better. And the pressures of that work was my excuse for the cheating.”
Owens pressed him on high-profile allegations, including those from Gwyneth Paltrow, who in 2017 said Weinstein had invited her into his hotel room in 1996, put his hands on her and suggested a massage. Weinstein called the claim “a complete fabrication.”
“I definitely made a pass,” he admitted, “but I didn’t touch her.”
“She thought the relationship was abusive. Anybody who was there, who witnessed that relationship with [Paltrow], it just turned into total friends,” he said. “There’s pictures of her hugging me when I was sick and in the hospital and didn’t think I was gonna make it in 1999. Gwyneth, at the Golden Globes, said, ‘Bomber, we miss you.’ She got up and made a speech about me. Nobody asked her to do that. In her Academy speech, she thanks me.”
He attributed their eventual fallout not to misconduct but to a creative disagreement over a script adaptation of Donna Tartt’s “The Secret History”, which Paltrow co-wrote with her brother Jake.
Weinstein also addressed Rose McGowan’s claim that he paid her $100,000 to silence her about a sexual encounter at Sundance. A New York Times report cited a legal document saying the payment was “not to be construed as an admission” but merely a way “to avoid litigation and buy peace.”
Weinstein said his intent was to shield his then-wife, Eve Chilton, from learning about his infidelity. “I settled with Rose McGowan,” he said. “I gave her $100,000, you know, to say… just don’t tell my wife, don’t get me in trouble.”
Now serving time, Weinstein claimed he still participates in Hollywood from afar. “I have friends who are still in the industry who slip me their screenplays and ask me for notes,” he said. “You know, can I do something for it? Can I help? Can I improve it? And I just give them my honest thoughts. So I’m not doing anything for me, but I’m doing things for others.”
Weinstein currently faces new charges in New York: two counts of committing a criminal sexual act in the first degree and one count of third-degree rape. The charges were brought by former model Kaja Sokola, ex-production assistant Miriam Haley, and aspiring actor Jessica Mann.
The full interview is available through Owens’ subscription service.
