Harvey Weinstein has been convicted of sexual assault and rape several times. Nevertheless, he continues to insist on his innocence. He will have to appear in court again in April.Image: keystone
It is the convicted sex offender’s first major interview since he was in prison. Harvey Weinstein insists on his innocence – and claims that the women only testified against him for the money.
Mar 11, 2026, 6:24 p.mMar 11, 2026, 6:24 p.m
Harvey Weinstein was considered one of the most successful Hollywood producers of our time. His companies produced films such as “Pulp Fiction,” “Inglourious Basterds,” “Good Will Hunting,” “The King’s Speech” and “Django Unchained.”
But his media empire began to crumble when he was publicly accused of sexual harassment for the first time in 2017. The New York Times published an exposé about Weinstein’s decades-long abuse of young women.
Among the approximately 90 plaintiffs against Weinstein for sexual abuse are stars such as Uma Thurman, Gwyneth Paltrow, Lupita Nyong’o, Salma Hayek, Kate Beckinsale and Cara Delevingne.
Harvey Weinstein with Gwyneth Paltrow (left) and Cameron Diaz. Paltrow is also one of the plaintiffs against Weinstein.Image: Ascot Elite
In February 2020, Weinstein was found guilty of sexual assault and rape in New York and sentenced to 23 years in prison. In 2023, after a long trial, he was sentenced to an additional 16 years in Los Angeles.
The 73-year-old is currently serving his sentence in New York’s Rikers Island prison – the largest prison complex in the world. There are a number of horror stories surrounding this prison island and thousands of human rights violations occur every year, mainly by the guards, reports Stuttgart newspaper. However, a large majority of them are not processed.
This is where Harvey is currently being held: Rikers Island is located on an island in the Bronx (New York) and is the largest prison complex in the world.Image: imago images
Weinstein also describes Rikers Island as “hell.” The Hollywood Reporter (THR). It is his first major interview since he was convicted. He has almost no human contact; Weinstein spends 23 hours a day in his cell. Because many people want something from him, it is dangerous for Weinstein to go to the farm: “I am constantly threatened and ridiculed. I wouldn’t last long outside of the cell.”
“You filled out the form for the money”
In an interview with THR, Weinstein portrays himself as a victim and claims that all of these women only sued him for the money:
“One woman got half a million dollars. Another received $500,000. A third received three million dollars. To get away with a check, all you had to do was fill out a form saying I sexually harassed her. So they filled it out, and the insurance company and Disney paid out tens of millions of dollars.”
Harvey Weinstein
Although he was “pushy or overly seductive,” he “did not sexually assault any woman.” At the same time, Weinstein said that some women knew “what was on the agenda” when a man invited them to a hotel room late at night. Some later regretted their encounters, others may have hoped for money. “However, not everyone was as naive as they seemed to be,” the magazine quoted him as saying.
#MeToo: These women are accusing Harvey Weinstein
In the interview, he apologized to women and said he should have respected them more. “I misled them,” he said. He also cheated and lied to his two wives. That is immoral. However, there were no sexual attacks: “That is the big lie in this whole matter.”
Weinstein: The women exaggerated
At the same time, Weinstein admitted that he had crossed boundaries and abused his position of power. He used employees to hide his private life and pressured them to lie. There was a power imbalance in the industry and he himself was “scary and difficult”.
However, several actresses had exaggerated their experiences, said Weinstein, naming Gwyneth Paltrow, among others. This made an encounter with him a “big deal” even though nothing happened.
Weinstein is due back in court in April. A charge on which the jury could not agree will be retried. Weinstein was sentenced to 23 years in prison in 2020: the verdict was overturned in 2024 due to procedural errors. Most recently, he appeared in court in a wheelchair due to poor health.
(With material from sda)