Game of Thrones star Lena Headey has revealed that a locked hotel door inadvertently saved her from a harrowing encounter with convicted sex offender Harvey Weinstein. The actress, known for playing Cersei Lannister, detailed the incident in an interview with Radio Times.
Venice Encounter and Failed Key Card
Headey first met the former Miramax producer while promoting the 2005 film The Brothers Grimm at the Venice Film Festival. She recalled: “Harvey and I went for a walk, and he tried to kiss me, and I was kind of drunk and young and didn’t give two sh**s. But I thought, ‘You’re 52’. And I told him to get lost.” Weinstein sent flowers the next day with an apology.
Six months later, Headey met him again for breakfast. He invited her to a screening, saying, “I’m going to give you scripts, come up to my room.” She described the moment: “We got in the lift, and when we got in, I just knew. And my whole body shut down. I said, ‘I think you’re thinking I want more than friendship, and I have no interest in that.’ He marched me, literally, to his room. He was so big. But his key card didn’t work. Eventually after trying again and again with the card and punching the door, he took me downstairs and said, ‘Never say anything to anybody.’”
Aftermath and Botox Advice
Headey said she got in her car and cried. She noted that Weinstein never offered her a role in any of his films again. The actress also revealed that Weinstein had told her to get Botox on her forehead and straighten her teeth when she was in her 20s.
Headey is now addressing the “toxic cycle” of Hollywood in her new Radio 4 series Intimacy, an eight-part comedy drama she wrote and directed. She commented: “The majority of people in the room are men. A lot of men who don't love women end up in our industry. They now have power and now is the time to put us in our place. It's the patriarchy, isn't it?”
