Heidi Klum has spoken out in support of the “brave women” making allegations of abuse and harassment against producer Harvey Weinstein.
The 44-year-old model has long worked with the movie mogul on her TV show Project Runway, which Weintstein had co-produced with his former company The Weinstein Company and Bunim-Murray Productions since 2012. However, since the accusations about his behavior have emerged, with legions of women coming forward to make claims that he harassed them, Weinstein has been stripped of his executive producer credit. It is now said to be unclear what will happen with the future of Project Runway, as The Weinstein Company owns a major stake in the program.
On Thursday (12Oct17), Project Runway host Heidi spoke out about the scandal, telling People.com:
“I wish I could say that the horrible stories I read about Harvey Weinstein are a rare occurrence in our society, but that is simply not the case. We would be naive to think that this behavior only happens in Hollywood.”
The mother-of-four added that the issue of sexual harassment of women by men is not limited to Hollywood, and should be considered a problem in any work environment.
“This is one example of the more pervasive problem of the mistreatment of women around the world. I think it would be hard to find a woman – myself included – who have not had an experience where they have felt intimidated or threatened by a man using his power, position or his physical stature,” she said.
“I truly admire these brave women who are coming forward to share their stories because change cannot come unless there is a dialogue and people are held accountable.”
Heidi is also close friends with Weinstein’s estranged wife Georgina Chapman, who is a judge on spin-off Project Runway All Stars and frequent guest judge on Project Runway.
Georgina announced her decision to leave her husband after the allegations about his behavior over a three-decade period first emerged.
A representative for Lifetime, the network on which Project Runway and Project Runway: All Stars airs, confirmed that Georgina has already filmed the next series of All Stars, and they have “yet to determine an airdate”.
