Mira Sorvino is feeling heartbroken after her friend and fellow #MeToo leader Asia Argento was accused of paying off a former child actor who accused her of sexual assault.
“Having just touched down from several weeks abroad, I am reeling from the recent news,” the Mighty Aphrodite actress, 50, tweeted on Wednesday, August 22. “Although hoping against hope that it is not true, here are my current thoughts.”
Sorvino — who, like Argento, accused Harvey Weinstein of sexual abuse, which he has denied — then shared a more formal statement: “I have been heartsick over the recent allegations against Asia Argento. Time will clarify things and perhaps she will be exonerated, but if true, there is no lens that makes it better.”
Her statement continued, “Child sexual assault is a heinous crime and is against all that I and the #MeToo movement stands for. I remain dedicated to fight for all victims and change the culture that encourages abuse of power in sexual relationships.”
Having just touched down from several weeks abroad, I am reeling from the recent news. Although hoping against hope that it is not true, here are my current thoughts: pic.twitter.com/8oOF3LmHLQ
— Mira Sorvino (@MiraSorvino) August 22, 2018
The New York Times published a report on Sunday, August 19, that claimed Argento, 42, quietly arranged to pay $380,000 to Bennett, 22, in late 2017, around the same time she came forward to accuse Weinstein, 66, of sexual assault. Bennett, who played her son in the 2004 movie The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things, alleged in court documents obtained by the newspaper that the Italian actress gave him alcohol before performing oral sex and having intercourse with him in a California hotel room in 2013. He was 17 at the time, and she was 37. The age of consent in the state is 18.
Argento denied the claim in a statement to New York Magazine on Tuesday, August 21. “I am deeply shocked and hurt by having read news that is absolutely false,” she said in part. “I have never had any sexual relationship with Bennett.”
Hours after Sorvino tweeted about the scandal, TMZ published a selfie that shows Argento and Bennett topless in bed together. The website also released screenshots of text messages that the movie star allegedly sent an unidentified friend after the Times report. In one alleged text, she wrote, “I had sex with him it felt weird. I didn’t know he was a minor until the shakedown letter. … The horny kid jumped me.”
Argento has not addressed the release of the photo and alleged texts. Us Weekly has reached out to her attorney for comment.
