Harvey Weinstein issues rare public statement after Salma Hayek's horrifying allegations.

Yesterday, actress and producer Salma Hayek, 51, penned for The New York Times a column in which she describes disgraced Hollywood film producer Harvey Weinstein as “her monster, too”.

Today, in a rare public statement, Weinstein has denied Hayek’s allegations and said he “continues to support her work”.

Lines upon lines of text in Hayek’s article detail how Weinstein, now 65, allegedly pushed himself upon her sexually when they worked together 14 years ago – asking for blow jobs; propositioning showers; requesting massages.

We discuss it on the latest episode of Mamamia Out Loud

Not just this, but also how when Hayek said ‘no’, she said he used everything in his power to prevent her from producing and acting in the film that she had created from scratch – that he had agreed to produce – Frida. 

The abuse culminated when Weinstein allegedly demanded Hayek perform a lesbian sex scene with fellow actress Ashley Judd – one of the first women to speak out with allegations of sexual harassment against Weinstein in October.

In the scene, Weinstein demanded full-frontal nudity, Hayek wrote. She felt she had no option but to say ‘yes’.

“I arrived on the set the day we were to shoot the scene that I believed would save the movie,” her column reads. “And for the first and last time in my career, I had a nervous breakdown: My body began to shake uncontrollably, my breath was short and I began to cry and cry, unable to stop, as if I were throwing up tears.

“It was not because I would be naked with another woman. It was because I would be naked with her for Harvey Weinstein.”

It’s a powerful allegation, however not dissimilar to the countless – there’s been more than 60 – other allegations of gross sexual misconduct thrown at the producer in the two months since Judd told her story, also in The New York Times.

What makes this one remarkable, however, is not just Hayek’s courage in sharing such trauma, but also that Weinstein has responded.

We've not heard much from the father-of-five since the first allegations were made public.

On October 5, Weinstein issued a statement, which said: "I appreciate the way I’ve behaved with colleagues in the past has caused a lot of pain, and I sincerely apologise for it", US Magazine reports. He said he was seeking therapy, and locked himself away in a 'sex rehabilitation' clinic.

Meanwhile, his attorneys were preparing a lawsuit claiming the Times' story relied on "mostly hearsay accounts and a faulty report, apparently stolen from an employee personnel file, which has been debunked by nine different eyewitnesses".

On October 20, Weinstein publicly denied allegations from actress Lupita Nyongo who said he asked to give her a message upon meeting her last year. To feel more comfortable, she said he offered him one instead, in which he began taking off his pants. In his statement denying the allegations, Weinstein said he "had a different recollection of events," Entertainment Weekly reports.

And now, responding to the accusations of extreme sexual and psychological abuse from Hayek, Weinstein has once again denied any wrongdoing and - sickeningly - appears to imply he was doing her a favour.

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Segments of the statement can be seen below:

"Mr Weinstein regards Salma Hayek as a first-class actress and cast her in several of his movies, among them “Once Upon a Time in Mexico,” “Dogma,” and “Studio 54.” He was very proud of her Best Actress Academy Award nomination for “Frida” and continues to support her work," the statement from Weinstein's party reads, according to Page Six.

"While Jennifer Lopez was interested in playing Frida and at the time was a bigger star, Mr Weinstein overruled other investors to back Salma as the lead. Miramax put up half of the money and all of the P&A; the budget was over 12 million. As in most collaborative projects, there was creative friction on “Frida,” but it served to drive the project to perfection. The movie opened in multiple theaters and was supported by a huge advertising campaign and an enormous Academy Awards budget."

"Mr Weinstein does not recall pressuring Salma to do a gratuitous sex scene with a female costar and he was not there for the filming. However, that was part of the story, as Frida Kahlo was bisexual and the more significant sex scene in the movie was choreographed by Ms Hayek with Geoffrey Rush."

"By Mr Weinstein’s own admission, his boorish behaviour following a screening of “Frida” was prompted by his disappointment in the cut of the movie — and a reason he took a firm hand in the final edit, alongside the very skilled director Julie Taymor."

Denial. Manipulation. Excuses. And a re-writing of history. Surely the time for that is over?