Dame Judi Dench, the Oscar-winning legendary British actress, has shocked her fans by speaking out to defend the disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein.
Dench Defends Weinstein
The #MeToo movement was launched nearly ten years ago after Weinstein, 73, was accused of rape by over 80 women. The former Miramax producer was later found guilty of rape in both New York and Los Angeles. He’s currently serving a 16 year-prison sentence.
Despite this, Dench believes that it might be time to forgive Weinstein.
“I saw a bit of film of Harvey walking with two sticks and you think, ‘Well…’, I knew Harvey and I knew him well and worked with him, and I had none of that experience – very fortunately for me,” Dench, 91, told the Radio Times.
Dench went on to say, “I imagine he’s done his time. I don’t know, to me it’s personal—forgiveness.”
The interviewer noted that this subject was “clearly very painful” for Dench to talk about.
Weinstein Responds
Weinstein is currently serving out his sentence in the notorious Rikers Island jail in New York. From behind bars, he has since spoken out to praise Dench for defending him.
“I have always been fond of Judi Dench,” Weinstein told Deadline. “She is an extraordinary person who played an important role in my career. I’ve now spent more than six and a half years incarcerated, including a year and a half in Rikers, which counts as double time.”
“I am here for something I did not do, and many of the claims that have been written about me are gradually being shown to be untrue or unsupported,” he continued. “I am grateful for the kind words that have been expressed, and all I want is the chance to return to my family and children.”
Dench and Weinstein worked together on multiple movies over the years. One of them was 1998’s Shakespeare In Love, which Dench won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth I.
Dench’s Previous Comments
Dench previously said in 2017 that she was “horrified” by the sexual assault and harassment allegations that had been made against Weinstein.
“Whilst there is no doubt that Harvey Weinstein has helped and championed my film career for the past 20 years, I was completely unaware of these offenses which are, of course, horrifying,” Dench told Newsweek at the time. “I offer my sympathy to those who have suffered, and wholehearted support to those who have spoken out.”
In 2021, however, Dench told The Guardian that her experience with Weinstein was not “tainted” by his crimes.
“I worked a lot for Harvey, a huge amount,” she said in that interview. “He was always completely charming. Perhaps I was lucky, but that’s all I know. I feel very acutely for the people who weren’t so lucky.”
“I knew nothing untoward about him at all,” Dench concluded. “And nor was I warned. So of course I can judge him. But I never experienced that other side of him at all.”
It should be noted that Dench is a Quaker, a religion that is very much centered around forgiveness. Perhaps that’s why she’s decided to defy Hollywood by publicly defending someone like Weinstein.