Mira Sorvino has said she is "a survivor of date rape".
The Oscar-winning actor revealed the news at a New York news conference in an attempt to push through stronger sexual assault laws in the US state.
She stated that coming forward with her allegations about disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein had been traumatic, but now wanted to talk about her experience of being date raped to support others.
“I can stand here before you and say not only was I a sexual harassment and battery victim at the hands of Mr Weinstein, but I’m also a sexual assault victim and I’m also a survivor of date rape,” she said
She continued: “I am [telling you] here to try and help, because there are all these survivors out there right now who need justice, who need to feel that they can take the time they need to sort through the trauma, to sort through the shame. Because I can tell you in situations of second degree rape, which is what mine would constitute, you feel ashamed. You feel that somehow it was your fault.”
SorvIno was speaking with New York’s governor, Andrew Cuomo, where she announced her support of the push to drop the statute of limitations on rape allegations.
In 2017, Sorvino became one of the first women to accuse Weinstein of sexual assault and of derailing her career throughout the years. Months later, Peter Jackson claimed that Weinstein told him not to cast Sorvino in The Lord of the Rings because she was “difficult”.
Sorvino won an Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Linda Ash in Allen’s 1995 film Mighty Aphrodite.
Weinstein denies all allegations of non-consensual sex.
