Vanity_Fair_USA_-_March_2020

(Amelia) #1
I decided to speak up and reveal my
name for the first time because so many
other women had already opened
up. There was a chance to really be
heard. I decided to listen to what my
heart says. I decided that my voice
might help others.
LUCIA EVANS: I honestly never thought I
would publicly speak out. I could not
have done it without all the people
around me who were so supportive.
People think it’s just like a lone-star
type of deal, and it’s not.
LAUREN O’CONNOR: My identity was
outed in the press—the New York Times
chose to publish my name against my
consent. It shattered my world, wiped
out my finances, and left me with
PTSD. When your private traumas are
made public, you walk into every room
knowing that people have already
decided who you are before meeting
you. You are labeled a witness, or a

whistle-blower, or a victim, or a survi-
vor, and reduced to a headline. It was
indescribably hard.
ROWENA CHIU: When I told my coworker
Zelda Perkins what happened, she was
much more shocked than I expected
her to be. It was clear that someone
she was responsible for had very near-
ly been raped. She marched down and
confronted Harvey at the lunch table
where he was meeting with some pret-
ty big Hollywood names. She wasn’t
afraid to grab the bull by the horns. We
talked right then about going to the
police, and within two weeks we sent
a fax to the New York office saying that
Zelda and I were invoking construc-
tive dismissal due to his behavior.
It was like detonating a bomb in the
office. We wanted to require him to
go to sex therapy and demanded that
he never travel unaccompanied with
a single woman, ever. The agreement

we reached was 30 pages long and very
detailed. But the legal system didn’t
allow us to confirm that he actually
did any of the things he was contractu-
ally liable to do.
ZELDA PERKINS: The tragedy is that Rowe-
na and I, as far as I’m aware, are the
only people who actually tried to stop
Harvey in the moment, by the only
means we had available. I felt that
this is bigger than Weinstein. From
day one my drive has been the larger,
more sinister story about the system
that enabled him to prey on so many
women for so many years.

The MOVEMENT

LOUISE GODBOLD: Women have broken
their silence, and now we know. The
bottom has dropped out of tolerance.
That’s the work that women all over

the world did. You do not create cultur-
al shifts by passing a law. You don’t do
it through sexual harassment training.
You only create a cultural shift when
there’s a critical mass of people com-
ing together and deciding that this is
not what we want our society to be like.
LYSETTE ANTHONY: There are 100 of us—
all these different voices and accents
and ages. We had never met, and
we’re all saying different versions of
the same thing. I’m proud of our col-
lective courage.
LUCIA EVANS: I’m an only child, but I feel
like I have sisters now.
ALLY CANOSA: This movement I am now
a part of is so much bigger and deeper
than what happened to me and these
women at the hands of one man and
his company. It’s a part of the structure
of society.
LAUREN SIVAN: We joke that he really did
have great taste in women. Because I’ve

gotten to know many of the other wom-
en over the past two years, and they are
all exceptional in their own right. Smart
and talented and passionate and cre-
ative, but protective of each other. It’s
been an amazing experience to have
this army of women on your side.
ZELDA PERKINS: The message is still “Stand
up.” The more people stand up, the
faster it will become normal.
EMILY NESTOR: So many women put so
much on the line. It shows what you
can do when you band together. I hope
that we don’t swing too far in one direc-
tion or get too militant, but that we also
stay strong and hold people respon-
sible for what they’ve done. I hope
reporters keep digging. I hope survi-
vors keep speaking out. I hope people
keep listening.
CAITLIN DULANY: It’s sort of unbelievable
that we were all assaulted by the same
man. The fact that we’ve all come

together and want change to happen
out of this is really profound.
ERIKA ROSENBAUM: We represent many
women who are still in the shadows
about what happened to them. They
are not ready to come forward. And
you know, not everybody has to.
MIRA SORVINO: This is a historic moment
when predatory power and influence
has been trumped by honesty and cour-
age. I send my most heartfelt support to
those valiant truth speakers like Anna-
bella Sciorra who dare to face a monster.
I am in awe of my fellow silence break-
ers, moved by the love and solidarity
found in that community, and heart-
ened by all of the milestones we have
been able to achieve together: the laws
we have helped to pass, and the resourc-
es we have created, not only to protect
all people, but to change the culture.
LISA ROSE: I really hoped that by exposing
everything CONTINUED ON PAGE 135

never come backand support him. It has to be scorched earth around Harvey.”


MARCH 2020 123

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