Matt Damon Knew the Story of Harvey Weinstein Allegedly Sexually Harassing Gwyneth Paltrow

In an interview with Michael Strahan on Good Morning America, the actor said Ben Affleck told him about how the Hollywood producer allegedly harassed the actress

By Elyse Dupre Oct 23, 2017 4:52 PMTags

Gwyneth Paltrow is one of the many Hollywood actresses to accuse Harvey Weinstein of past sexual misconduct.

In an interview with The New York Times—the same publication that wrote the exposé detailing decades of sexual misconduct allegations against the Hollywood producer—Paltrow accused Weinstein of inviting her to his hotel suite at the Peninsula Beverly Hills hotel for a business meeting. There, she claimed he proceeded to place his hands on the then 22-year-old actress and invite her into his room for massages. Paltrow said she refused his advances and confided in her then-boyfriend Brad Pitt, who reportedly confronted Weinstein about the incident and told him not to touch her again. 

Now, in a new interview with Good Morning America, Matt Damon admitted that he "knew the story" about Paltrow.

"I knew the story about Gwyneth from Ben [Affleck] because he was with her after Brad. So, I knew that story," the actor told Michael Strahan on GMA. "But I was working with Gwyneth with Harvey on [The Talented Mr.] Ripley. I never talked to Gwyneth about it. Ben told me. But I knew they had come to whatever agreement or understanding that they had come to. She had handled it. She was the first lady of Miramax and he treated her incredibly respectfully—always."

Although the Bourne Identity actor didn't work with Weinstein for very long—claiming he did five films in "quick succession" with him after the Hollywood executive bought Good Will Hunting—Damon said "you had to spend about five minutes with him to know that he was a bully."

"When people say, like, everybody knew, yeah, I knew he was an a--hole," he later said. "He was proud of that. You know what I mean? That's how he carried himself. I knew he was a womanizer. I wouldn't want to be married to the guy. It's not my business really. But this level of criminal sexual predation is not something that I ever thought was going on."

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George Clooney, who was also interviewed for the duo's film Suburbicon, told Strahan Weinstein told him about "affairs" he had with other actresses; however, the Ocean's Eleven actor said he didn't believe his female colleagues would do such a thing—"and clearly they didn't," he said.

Now that the allegations are out there, Clooney hopes more people will speak out.

"The idea that this this predator, this assaulter was out there silencing women like that, it's beyond infuriating," he said. "The fact that the story is coming out now and the more it comes out, I want to know all of it."

Watch the video to see the interview.

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Weinstein's spokesperson Sallie Hofmeister released the following statement to GMA

"Any allegations of non consensual sex are unequivocally denied by Mr. Weinstein. Mr. Weinstein has further confirmed that there were never any acts of retaliation against any women for refusing his advances."