NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — A new book about Harvey Weinstein reveals insights into the disgraced Hollywood film producer turned convicted rapist's downfall.
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In Ken Auletta's "Hollywood Ending: Harvey Weinstein and the Culture of Silence," the famed New Yorker media critic shares how the 70-year-old allegedly had a perfect view of himself and his looks.
"Harvey had some notion in his head that his body was attractive," Auletta told Fox News. This was despite witness testimony that the Oscar-winner smelled of "poop," had a back full of blackheads and had "deformed" genitals.
Meanwhile, Weinstein "really thought he was God's gift, a Don Juan," Auletta added, reflecting on his book, which incorporated his interviews with movie stars, Miramax film studio employees as well as former friends and family members, including brother Bob Weinstein.
Auletta also confronted Weinstein in 2002 for a New Yorker piece, telling Fox that his initial opinion of Weinstein was that he was a "beast."
"I came within inches of nailing him on assaulting women, but I couldn’t get any of the women to talk to me," Auletta added. "And he denied it. He said, ‘These are all consensual affairs.’ But when the New York Times and the New Yorker exposed him in 2017, I was applauding."
Auletta is now detailing how jurors during his 2020 trial "barely looked at" photos of Weinstein and were "disgusted."
"They had no interest in looking at these pictures," he continued. "I remember I kept looking at Harvey. He would just sit in his chair without expression. Sometimes he fell asleep."
The journalist also described Weinstein's childhood, with his "domineering mother" Miriam, who would "scream and shame her son in front of his friends." He also talked about how Weinstein missed years of sexual assault exposure because so many women were afraid of retaliation.
"They were afraid of challenging him and being called liars," Auletta said. "They knew he would attack or castigate them. He had enormous power among the press… He was also willing to pay these women a sum of money to keep quiet."
Weinstein became the most prominent villain of the #MeToo movement after women began to go public in 2017 with accounts of his behavior.
Weinstein is serving a 23-year sentence after his 2020 conviction in New York for raping an actress in a New York City hotel room in 2013 and sexually assaulting production assistant Mimi Haleyi at his apartment in 2006.
He is jailed in California, where he was extradited last year, and is awaiting trial on charges he assaulted five women in Los Angeles and Beverly Hills from 2004 to 2013.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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