Harvey Weinstein screamed at Salma Hayek for making herself look 'ugly' in Frida
Salma Hayek has claimed Harvey Weinstein screamed at her for making herself "look ugly" while making 2002 movie Frida.
In October 2017, multiple women accused the producer of sexual assault, sexual harassment, and bullying, and the Mexican actress went public with her Weinstein story that December, writing in The New York Times that he had sexually harassed her for years, would fly into rage whenever she turned down his advances, and tried to sabotage her passion project, the Frida Kahlo biopic.
During an interview with The Guardian, the Oscar nominee admitted she normalised his bullying "to a degree" to help her cope with it and recalled how Weinstein yelled at her for having a monobrow and moustache, despite them reflecting the Mexican artist's appearance.
"I did feel all right (when he bullied me). OK, I would shake (afterwards) and it did depress me, but there was a cartoon aspect about the whole thing," she explained. "When he would call me up (during the making of Frida) and scream, 'Why do you have a (monobrow) and moustache? I didn't hire you to look ugly!' I was like, 'But didn't you ever look at a picture of Frida Kahlo?' If a man was playing Cyrano de Bergerac, he wouldn't say, 'What's with the nose?'"
The 55-year-old previously stated in 2017 that she thinks Weinstein never assaulted her because she had famous male friends, and when quizzed about that claim by The Guardian, she added, "Also I was very strong... I'm a force to be recognised. He never saw me weak. It's not that I'm not afraid, but you're not going to see it. I can be almost intimidating in my calm strength, you know?"
When asked if there are other men who bullied or harassed her still working in the industry, she replied, "I'm sure - it was systematic. But one of my strengths is I don't hold a grudge. I also believe people can change... I'm not interested in shaming anyone. I just want it to stop."
Weinstein was convicted of one count of criminal sexual assault in the first degree and one count of rape in the third degree in February 2020 and was sentenced to 23 years in prison.
