“I did not initially speak out about my story because I chose to handle it in private with the person who wronged me,” he added. “My trauma resurfaced as she came out as a victim herself.”
Bennett’s statement comes after the New York Times reported that Argento “quietly arranged to pay $380,000” to Bennett, “who said she had sexually assaulted him in a California hotel room years earlier,” when he was 17 and she was 37. (The age of consent in California is 18.) The newspaper cited documents between Argento’s and Bennett’s attorneys that were sent to the newspaper by an unknown party through encrypted email.
Argento, one of the first women to publicly accuse Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault, has denied the allegations.
“I am deeply shocked and hurt by having read news that is absolutely false,” Argento said Tuesday. “I have never had any sexual relationship with Bennett.”
The initial Times report did not include statements from Argento and Bennett, who declined to comment.
Bennett played Argento’s son in a 2004 movie, “The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things.”
On Wednesday, Bennett said, “I was underage when the event took place, and I tried to seek justice in a way that made sense to me at the time because I was not ready to deal with the ramifications of my story becoming public.”
He continued: “At the time I believed there was still a stigma to being in the situation as a male in our society. I didn’t think that people would understand the event that took place from the eyes of a teenage boy.”
According to Argento, the two remained friends until the Weinstein story broke.
“I was linked to him during several years by friendship only, which ended when, subsequent to my exposure in the Weinstein case, Bennett — who was then undergoing severe economic problems and who had previously undertaken legal actions against his own family requesting millions in damages — unexpectedly made an exorbitant request of money from me,” Argento said Tuesday. “Bennett knew my boyfriend, Anthony Bourdain, was a man of great perceived wealth and had his own reputation as a beloved public figure to protect.”
Bourdain — who died in June — “insisted the matter be handled privately” and was “afraid of the possible negative publicity that such a person, whom he considered dangerous, could have brought upon us,” Argento said.
“We decided to deal compassionately with Bennett’s demand for help and give it to him. Anthony personally undertook to help Bennett economically, upon the condition that we would no longer suffer any further intrusions in our life,” Argento continued. “This is, therefore, the umpteenth development of a sequence of events that brings me great sadness and that constitutes a long-standing persecution. I have therefore no other choice but to oppose such false allegations and will assume in the short term all necessary initiatives for my protection before all competent venues.”
Tarana Burke, the activist who founded #MeToo, weighed in, writing in a series of tweets that the movement is “for all of us, including these brave young men who are now coming forward.”
My hope is that as more folks come forward, particularly men, that we prepare ourselves for some hard conversations about power and humanity and privilege and harm. This issue is less about crime & punishment and more about harm and harm reduction.
— Tarana (@TaranaBurke) August 20, 2018
