Harvey Weinstein's former assistant Zelda Perkins says that the Hollywood mogul is a "power addict" and that nondisclosure agreements helped him continue abusing women for years.
Perkins - who in the 1990s worked for United Kingdom arm of Miramax films, which Weinstein co-founded - accused the producer of attempting to rape her female colleague in 1998.
She and the unnamed colleague resigned from Miramax Films and attempted taking Weinstein to court, only to realize that "ultimately it would be two under-25-year-old women's words against Harvey Weinstein, Miramax film corporation and essentially the Disney company."
Weinstein continues to deny the allegations. As part of a settlement agreement, Perkins signed an ironclad nondisclosure agreement.
But now, after a pair of articles in October in the New York Times and the New Yorker alleged that Weinstein used his position to sexually harass and assault women he encountered through his work, at least since the 1980s, dozens more women have accused Weinstein of the same. He was fired from the Weinstein Company, banned for life by the Producers Guild of America and is being investigated by several different police departments.
And now Perkins is speaking out. She opened up in her first televised interview with the BBC on Tuesday.
Working with Weinstein was equal parts thrilling and frightening, she said.
"To be in the enclave of somebody that powerful was very exciting," Perkins said. "He was also very unpleasant to be around, but he was a master manipulator. His moods changed very quickly, and you never knew if you were his confidante or if you were going to be screamed at, so it was a very highly adrenalized environment."
She was on the receiving end of Weinstein's tongue-lashings on several occasions, she said, but she never once felt physically threatened. And while she knew of Weinstein's many girlfriends, she "presumed" the relationships "were consensual."
"As an assistant, that's not something you're really involved with," she said.
That changed at the Venice Film Festival 19 years ago. Perkins attended it with Weinstein and a few other colleagues from Miramax Films. One night, one of them told Perkins that Weinstein tried to rape her.
Perkins did not reveal the alleged victim's identity.
"She was shaking. Very distressed, clearly in shock," Perkins said, adding that her colleague "was absolutely terrified by the consequences, what would happen."
Perkins attempted to calm her down for about a half-hour; then she "went straight downstairs to where Harvey was having a business meeting on the terrace, and I told him he needed to come with me right away.
"For me to have broken into a meeting like that was very unusual, and he did not question me," she said. "He got up and came with me straight away, because he knew why I was as angry."
When Perkins questioned Weinstein, "he said nothing at all had happened. And he swore on the life of his wife and his children, which was his best get out of jail card, which he used quite a lot."
Perkins wasn't completely shocked since "with Harvey, there was no such word as 'no,' and I think that was really the crux of the matter."
"Everything that drove him was about dominance, with men and women. He put an enormous amount of energy into humiliating men, and an enormous amount of energy into getting women to submit. And getting men to submit. That was what drove him: his overarching need for power," she added.
She and her colleague resigned and hired a team of lawyers, hoping to press criminal charges against Weinstein. But their lawyers pointed out they didn't have physical evidence of the incident and they hadn't gone to the police in Venice. It was their word against Weinstein's - and, by extension, the companies he worked for.
"I naively believed if we went to Disney, they would be horrified and fire Harvey or help us with the proceedings, but the lawyers made it very clear that wasn't how the world works," Perkins said. "There was no recourse. That was very shocking and very frightening to realize that the law couldn't help me."
Eventually, she settled with Weinstein, receiving about $167,000 in exchange for her signing an nondisclosure agreement guaranteeing her silence.
"It was very intense agreement in terms of the secrecy. I was not allowed to ever speak to anyone about really my time working at Miramax," Perkins said. "I was not allowed to speak to a therapist without them signing a confidentiality agreement. I was not allowed to speak to my accountant with regards to the money I received."
The settlement also said Weinstein had to attend therapy, and Perkins was to be present at his first session to ensure he spoke about the alleged incident.
That never happened though. His legal team kept stalling and, "after this process, I was pretty broken and exhausted," Perkins said. "I didn't have the energy to go on fighting. And in reality, it was not my obligation to follow up his obligation."
She attempted finding work in the industry, but her "reputation was pretty suspect."
"When you've spent a month of your life fighting with every ounce of your strength for right and to stop a predator, to have to face that kind of environment afterward was very very hard," she said. "I couldn't stay in the industry at that point."
Eventually she packed up and moved from London to Central America, where she trained horses for a living.
Perkins said if she had been able to speak up, other women might have escaped Weinstein's alleged behavior. She thinks nondisclosure agreements allow powerful men to continue hurting women.
"Although the process I went through was legal, it was immoral," Perkins said.
"I understand that nondisclosure agreements have a place in society for both sides, but it's really important that legislation is changed around how these agreements are regulated," she added. "You cannot have a legal document that protects a criminal - this isn't someone who sold you a dodgy car."