Harvey Weinstein never made a move on Dita Von Teese, but the world’s most famous stripper claims that “everybody knew” how the former Hollywood producer was treating women behind closed doors.
More than 60 women have come forward with allegations against Weinstein since two bombshell reports by The New York Times and The New Yorker came out in October. However, Von Teese said what many people already believed when addressing the scandal with The Telegraph on Monday: it was common knowledge.
“I can’t imagine how that must be. The Harvey Weinstein thing . . . was totally common knowledge” the burlesque star said. “I’d go to the Cannes Film Festival and everybody knew.”
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Von Teese was one of many celebrities that was invited to attend parties put on by the disgraced Hollywood executive, but she said he never made a move on her because she wasn’t interested in getting into acting.
“He’d invite me to yacht parties, but I didn’t ever have any bad experiences with Harvey,” she claimed. “But I also wasn’t trying to be an actress.”
While Von Teese has made a living off of performing with little to no clothing on, she’s never had a problem with abuse on the job, because she claims she is her own boss and has never needed anyone’s help to get a job.
“I was my own boss. So I didn’t have to feel obliged to accept jobs. I just dropped a deal to do a project here because I thought, ‘I don’t need this guy breathing down my neck and asking me to go to dinner. I’m not desperate,’” she said.
“I always had a boyfriend that I would drag along, and I always traveled with assistants,” she added. “I remember someone spiking my drink once, and wondering: why am I awake 15 hours later after the show? Things like that would happen to me occasionally, but nothing that was really bad. I always had very distinctive boundaries. I guess I’ve been lucky.”