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		</div><h3><span style="color: #000000;"><strong>Actress Rose McGowan says her &#8216;heart is broken&#8217; as she distances herself from &#8216;short term pal&#8217; Asia Argento who has been accused of molestation</strong></span></h3>
<h3><span style="color: #000000;"><strong>The 42-year-old Italian star is accused of sexually assaulting an actor who played her son and paying hush money for cover up</strong></span></h3>
<h3><span style="color: #000000;"><strong>The New York Times reported on Sunday that Argento paid actor Jimmy Bennett $380,000 after he sought damages for a 2013 assault </strong></span></h3>
<h3><span style="color: #000000;"><strong>Bennett and Argento met on the set of The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things in 2003, with the actress playing a prostitute and Bennett, then 7, cast as her son</strong></span></h3>
<h3><span style="color: #000000;"><strong>McGowan played down her relationship with actress Asia Argento after her fellow Harvey Weinstein-accuser was accused of sexually assaulting a teen </strong></span><span style="color: #000000;"><strong> </strong></span></h3>
<h3><span style="color: #000000;"><strong>McGowan in her Monday morning tweet hinted that there might be more to the story, adding: &#8216;None of us know the truth of the situation and I’m sure more will be revealed. Be gentle&#8217; &#8211; </strong></span></h3>
<h3><span style="color: #000000;"><strong>My heart is broken. I will continue my work on behalf of victims everywhere,&#8217; wrote McGowan on Twitter</strong></span></h3>
<h3><b><span style="color: #000000;">Actor, musician Jim Bennett who had filed a notice of an intent to sue, claimed in the notice that Argento &#8216;kissed,&#8217; &#8216; performed oral sex&#8217; and had &#8216;intercourse&#8217; with him when he was 17 and she was 3</span></b><span style="color: #000000;">7</span></h3>
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<h6 class="mobile-gallery-icon"><strong><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-298119" src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Asia-Argento-10.png" alt="Asia Argento 10" width="896" height="499" />Italian actress and director Asia Argento [photo] who publicly accused producer Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault, has been accused of molestation of a child co-star </strong></h6>
<div>The Italian actress and director Asia Argento was among the first women in the movie business to publicly accuse the producer Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault. She became a leading figure in the #MeToo movement. Her boyfriend, the culinary television star Anthony Bourdain, <a class="css-1g7m0tk" title="" href="https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/money-and-power/a21235335/anthony-bourdain-asia-argento-relationship/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">eagerly joined the fight</a>. Bourdain was to go on and hang himself in unrelated circumstances, while filming abroad, months later</div>
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<p class="css-1i0edl6 e2kc3sl0">This weekend a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/19/us/asia-argento-assault-jimmy-bennett.html?hp&;action=click&;pgtype=Homepage&;clickSource=story-heading&;module=first-column-region&;region=top-news&;WT.nav=top-news">report </a>alleged that in the months following her revelations about the Weinstein assault, last October, Argento quietly arranged to pay $380,000 to her own accuser, young actor and rock musician Jimmy Bennett, who starred beside her as a 7-year-old, 10 years earlier.<br />
Bennett claims the #MeToo movement advocate had sexually assaulted him in a California hotel room five years ago, when he was only two months past his 17th birthday. She was 37 at the time. The age of consent in California is 18.</p>
<h6><strong><img class="alignnone wp-image-298123" src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Asia-Argento-and-Jim-Bennett-3.png" alt="Asia Argento and Jim Bennett 3.png" width="681" height="369" />Asia </strong><strong>Argento [right] allegedly paid actor Jimmy Bennett $380,000 after he sought damages for a 2013 assault. The pair is seen [on the day of the alleged assault], </strong><strong>in May 2013 &#8211; She was 37 at the time, and Bennett was 17</strong></h6>
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<h6 class="mobile-gallery-icon"><strong><img class="alignnone wp-image-298120" src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Anthony-Bourdain-and-Asia-Argento-2.png" alt="Anthony Bourdain and Asia Argento 2" width="678" height="678" />Asia Argento was dating late celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain who killed himself in his French hotel room in June</strong></h6>
<div class="mobile-gallery-icon">In the wake of the accusations, her close friend and Weistein co-accuser, Rose McGowan, is speaking out after Argento was revealed to have paid hush money to the young actor who claimed he was sexually assaulted by the Italian star as a teenager.</div>
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<p class="mol-para-with-font">&#8216;I got to know Asia Argento ten months ago. Our commonality is the shared pain of being assaulted by Harvey Weinstein. My heart is broken. I will continue my work on behalf of victims everywhere,&#8217; wrote McGowan on Twitter early Monday.<br />
She then hinted that there might be more to the story, adding: &#8216;None of us know the truth of the situation and I’m sure more will be revealed. Be gentle.&#8217;<br />
McGowan&#8217;s remarks came hours after <a class="class" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/19/us/asia-argento-assault-jimmy-bennett.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">The New York Times</a> reported that Argento had paid actor Jimmy Bennett $380,000 when he filed a notice of intent to sue back in November.<br />
In that notice, Bennett claimed that he was sexually assaulted by Argento in a California hotel room in 2013 when he was 17 and the actress 37, a decade after he first met her on the set of The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things.<br />
Bennett was just 7 when he was cast to play the son of Argento&#8217;s character, a drug-addicted prostitute in the film, based on the popular novel by JT Leroy.<br />
The film also starred Argento&#8217;s then-boyfriend Michael Pitt, Winona Ryder, and McGowan&#8217;s former fiancé Marilyn Manson.</p>
<h6><strong><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-298124" src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Asia-Argento-and-Rose-McDowon-3.jpg" alt="Asia Argento and Rose McDowon 3.jpg" width="928" height="523" />Deceitful above all things: Rose McGowan[right], </strong><strong>played down her relationship with actress Asia Argento [left], implying that they first met 10 months ago in the wake of the #MeToo movement </strong></h6>
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<h6 class="imageCaption"><strong><img class="alignnone wp-image-298109" src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Rose-McGowan-tweet-1.png" alt="Rose McGowan tweet 1.png" width="701" height="299" />Heartache: &#8216;My heart is broken. I will continue my work on behalf of victims everywhere,&#8217; wrote McGowan on Twitter [photo]</strong></h6>
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<h6 class="imageCaption"><strong><img class="alignnone wp-image-298111" src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Rose-McGowan-tweet-2.png" alt="Rose McGowan tweet 2.png" width="693" height="216" />Non commital defense: McGowan next hinted that there might be more to the story, adding: &#8216;None of us know the truth of the situation and I’m sure more will be revealed. Be gentle&#8217; </strong></h6>
<h6><img class="" src="https://i1.wp.com/konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Rose-McGowanright-and-Asia-Argento-left-1.png?ssl=1&;w=635" alt="Rose McGowan[right], and Asia Argento [left] 1" width="664" height="500" /><strong>Argento corrected that impression twitting that they pair met on March 17, 2003, </strong><strong>[t</strong><strong>he friends are seen in this 2003 photo]</strong></h6>
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<h6 class="mobile-gallery-icon"><strong><img class="alignnone wp-image-298110" src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Asia-Argento-tweet-1.png" alt="Asia Argento tweet 1.png" width="693" height="324" />Argento posted a photo of herself and McGowan on Instagram earlier this year and wrote: &#8216;The day we met &#8211; March 17th, 2003&#8217; [photo]</strong></h6>
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<p class="mol-para-with-font">McGowan&#8217;s remarks come just two months after the Scream star rushed to Europe to be by Argento&#8217;s side after her boyfriend Anthony Bourdain hanged himself in a French hotel room.<br />
In the wake of the celebrity chef&#8217;s suicide, McGowan acted as Argento&#8217;s spokesperson, and even released the actress&#8217; first statement on the passing of Bourdain.<br />
It is not known for certain if Bourdain knew about the settlement his girlfriend paid to Bennett, but it seems likely as she used her late boyfriend&#8217;s lawyer to handle the<br />
The claim that McGowan &#8216;got to know&#8217; Argento for 10 months is a bit questionable however, with Argento herself posting a photo of the two on Instagram earlier this year and writing: &#8216;The day we met &#8211; March 17th, 2003.&#8217;<br />
McGowan and Argento have been at the forefront of the #MeToo for almost a year now after both women claimed to have been sexually assaulted by disgraced mogul Harvey Weinstein.</p>
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<h6 class="mobile-gallery-icon"><strong><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-298116" src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Asia-Argento-and-Harvey-Weinstein-at-the-2004-Cannes-film-festival.png" alt="Asia Argento and Harvey Weinstein at the 2004 Cannes film festival.png" width="668" height="474" />Asia Argento [left], and her alleged rapist producer Harvey Weinstein at the 2004 premiere of The Heart is Deceitful at Cannes in 2004. Argento says after the 1997 rape, she forgave Weinstein, then went on to have consensual relations with him. Still after 20 years later, she kicked off the flood of complaints that led to the downfall of Weinstein </strong></h6>
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<div>It was Argento who first went public with her story followed by McGowan, who had signed a nondisclosure agreement after receiving a reported $100,000 settlement from Weinstein following allegations that she was sexually assaulted at the 1996 Sundance Film Festival by the then head of Miramax. &#8211; Argento was allegedly assaulted the following year by Weinstein at the Cannes Film Festival.</div>
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<p class="mol-para-with-font">Weinstein has denied these allegations.<br />
Bennett&#8217;s lawyer wrote in the notice that his client was sexually assaulted by Argento back in 2013 after being dropped off by a family member at a Marina del Rey hotel for a visit.<br />
The teenager was unable to drive himself due to an eye condition which prohibits him from obtaining a license in the state of California.<br />
The Times, citing a copy of the notice they were sent by an anonymous source, reported that Argento then sent the family member away and was alone with Bennett in her hotel room.<br />
Argento then gave the minor &#8216;alcohol to drink and showed him a series of notes she had written to him on hotel stationery.&#8217;<br />
&#8216;Then she kissed him, pushed him back on the bed, removed his pants and performed oral sex,&#8217; said the report.<br />
&#8216;She climbed on top of him and the two had intercourse,&#8217; according to the notice.<br />
&#8216;She then asked him to take a number of photos.&#8217;</p>
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<h6 class="mobile-gallery-icon"><strong><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-298112" src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Asia-Argento-and-Jim-Benneth-on-the-set-of-The-Heart-is-Deceitful-Above-All-Things-in-2003.png" alt="Asia Argento and Jim Benneth on the set of The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things, in 2003.png" width="676" height="380" />Argento and her accuser Bennett met on the set of The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things in 2003 [image], with the actress playing a prostitute and Bennett, then 7, cast as her son</strong></h6>
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<h6 class="mobile-gallery-icon"><strong><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-298113" src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Jim-Benneth-1.png" alt="Jim Benneth 1.png" width="677" height="433" />After Argento came out with the coerced sex with Weinstein, Bennett [photo] responded with an intent to sue, initially seeking $3.5 million. The case was settled for just a tenth of that amount</strong></h6>
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<h6 class="mobile-gallery-icon"><strong><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-298118" src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Rose-Mcgowan-and-Asia-Argento-2.jpg" alt="Rose Mcgowan and Asia Argento 2.jpg" width="1910" height="1273" />Things fall apart: McGowan[right], seen in photo taken in March, </strong><strong>with Argento [left], is easing herself aeay from her </strong><strong> #MeToo movement pal. The two women have accused Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault </strong></h6>
<div>Argento took a number of photos of herself and Bennett after the alleged assault, including one of the two lying naked in bed.</div>
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<p class="mol-para-with-font">She also posted five photos from the pair&#8217;s meet-up to her Instagram that day, starting with one of herself in which she wrote: &#8216;Waiting for my long lost son my love @jimmymbennett in trepidation #marinadelrey smoking cigarettes like there was no next week.&#8217;<br />
In her second post she shared a selfie of herself with Bennett and wrote: &#8216;Happiest day of my life reunion with @jimmymbennett xox.&#8217;<br />
In that same post, one follower wrote: &#8216;Asia cast him again!! xoxo.&#8217;<br />
Argento replied: &#8216;jimmy is going to be in my next movie and that is a fact, dig that jack.&#8217;<br />
When she was then asked if the film would shot stateside, Argento responded: &#8216;no we shoot the s*** in eye-2-ly &#8216;s @jimmymbennett&#8217;s never been there &#8211; yet X.&#8217;<br />
Bennett never worked with Argento again however, and then in November filed his notice after the actress&#8217; very public condemnation of her alleged rapist, Weinstein.<br />
&#8216;His feelings about that day were brought to the forefront recently when Ms. Argento took the spotlight as one of the many victims of Harvey Weinstein,&#8217; stated Bennett&#8217;s lawyer in the notice.<br />
He then asked for $3.5 million in damages, sighting intentional infliction of emotional distress, lost wages, assault and battery.<br />
The parties agreed to a settlement in April, and one month later Argento appeared at the closing ceremony of the Cannes Film Festival.<br />
In a speech that garnered much praise at the time she said: &#8216;In 1997, I was raped by Harvey Weinstein here at Cannes. I was 21 years old.&#8217;<br />
Argento continued: &#8216;Even tonight, sitting among you, there are those who have still to be held accountable for their conduct against women. You know who you are. But most importantly we know who you are. And we&#8217;re not going allow you to get away with it any longer.&#8217;<br />
The actress then said Weinstein was no longer welcome at the festival.</p>
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<h6 class="mobile-gallery-icon"><strong><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-298117" src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Asia-Argento-and-Anthony-Bourdain-at-the-Emmy-Awards-in-Sept-2017.png" alt="Asia Argento and Anthony Bourdain at the Emmy Awards in Sept 2017.png" width="675" height="448" />Argento and then boyfriend, Anthony Bourdain at the 2017 Emmy Awards last September</strong></h6>
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<div>The Italian star told the New Yorker that Weinstein raped her in 1997 at a party hosted by Miramax at the Hotel Du Cap-Eden-Roc. She claims the mogul led her to an empty room and asked her to give him a massage.</div>
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<p class="mol-para-with-font">She reluctantly agreed, and halfway through he began to perform oral sex on her after forcibly lifting up her skirt despite her repeated requests for him to stop.<br />
Argento says that she became suspicious when the party she arrived at was just an empty hotel room, but was assured that people would soon be arriving by Weinstein.<br />
Then, he emerged from the bathroom in a robe and holding a bottle of lotion says the actress, who was just 21 at the time.<br />
&#8216;He asks me to give a massage. I was, like, &#8216;Look man, I am no f***ing fool,&#8221; said Argento.<br />
&#8216;But, looking back, I am a f***ing fool. And I am still trying to come to grips with what happened.&#8217;</p>
<h6 class="mobile-gallery-icon"><strong><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-298125" src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Asia-Argento-left-7-year-old-Jimmy-Bennett-and-Winona-Ryder-right-in-20031.png?w=679" alt="Asia-Argento-left-7-year-old-Jimmy-Bennett-and-Winona Ryder-right-in-20031.png" width="679" height="518" />Meet up: Argento shared a photo of herself and Winona Ryder with Bennett on the set of Heart in September 2014, well over a year after the alleged assault [photo]</strong></h6>
<p class="mol-para-with-font">The actress, who is the daughter of famed Italian director Dario Argento, said that once Weinstein began performing oral sex on her there was no way for her to stop him because he was so much bigger than her.<br />
&#8216;It wouldn&#8217;t stop. It was a nightmare,&#8217; said Argento, who eventually decided to pretend she was enjoying the act in hopes that it would end.<br />
When it was over, Argento said she said on the bed and told her attacked: &#8216;I am not a whore.&#8217;<br />
He laughed at her and said he would put that on a shirt according to Argento, who said that Weinstein contacted her for months after the attack and even began offering her expensive gifts.<br />
Argento eventually relented and over time became close to her attacker, and even engaged in consensual relations with him she admits.<br />
She explained the sudden shift by saying that it was a few months before the release of her 1999 film &#8216;B. Monkey&#8217; and she was afraid that if she did not agree to Weinstein&#8217;s advances he might destroy her career.<br />
The following year, Argento released her film &#8216;Scarlet Diva,&#8217; which had a scene similar to the one she experienced three years earlier in France.<br />
In that film, a young actress is cornered by a big producer in a room with one crucial difference.<br />
&#8216;In the movie I wrote, I ran away,&#8217; said Argento.<br />
When she told Weinstein that the character was based on him he simply laughed said Argento.</p>
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Harvey Weinstein accuser, actress Asia Argento, accused of sexually assaulting actor who played her son and paying him off with $380K
