Daily Mail Georgina Chapman Breaks Her Silence on Harvey Weinstein Sex Assault Scandal

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5713705/Georgina-Chapman-breaks-silence-Harvey-Weinstein-scandal.html

[size=34]'I was so humiliated and so broken': Georgina Chapman breaks her silence on estranged husband Harvey Weinstein's sex assault scandal saying she was 'terribly naive', has moments of rage and cries for her children[/size]

• Georgina Chapman, 42, broke her silence on her estranged husband Harvey Weinstein's sex assault scandal in an interview with Vogue
  
  
• The fashion designer said she was 'terribly naive' about the disgraced producer and was never suspicious about his behavior
  
  
• Chapman, who has filed for divorce from Weinstein, said she thought they had a happy marriage 
  
  
• Mother-of-two said she cries for the couple's young children and worries about the affect the scandal will have on them
  
  
• She said she refused to go out for five months after the allegations surfaced and didn't offer up any of her Marchesa dresses for the past award season
  
  
• Her friend Huma Abedin, whom she met in the months leading up to the scandal, said their relationship had strengthened since
  
  
• Abedin, the wife of disgraced Anthony Weiner, said people don't feel sorry for women like her and Chapman  
  
  

By EMILY CRANE FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 08:21 EDT, 10 May 2018 | UPDATED: 09:10 EDT, 10 May 2018

    


Harvey Weinstein's estranged wife Georgina Chapman has broken her months-long silence about his sexual assault scandal saying she was 'terribly naive' about the disgraced film producer. 
The 42-year-old, who has filed for divorce from Weinstein, told Vogue that she has moments of rage about her estranged husband's behavior and now cries for the couple's two children. 
'There was a part of me that was terribly naive - clearly, so naive,' Chapman said. 'I have moments of rage, I have moments of confusion, I have moments of disbelief!'
The British fashion designer said she worries mostly about their two children - India, 7, and Dashiell, 5 - and the affect the scandal will have on them.

'I have moments when I just cry for my children. What are their lives going to be? What are people going to say to them?' she said in tears. 
'It's like, they love their dad. They love him. I just can't bear it for them!'


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Harvey Weinstein's estranged wife Georgina Chapman has broken her months-long silence about his sexual assault scandal in an interview with Vogue. They are pictured together at the Oscars in 2017
Asked if she was ever suspicious about Weinstein's behavior, Chapman said: 'Absolutely not. Never'. She added that he frequently traveled for work and she had never obsessed about where he was.
'That's what makes this so incredibly painful: I had what I thought was a very happy marriage. I loved my life.' 
Chapman, who co-founded the fashion label Marchesa, said she hadn't offered up any of her dresses to celebrities for the past awards season. 
'We didn't feel it was appropriate given the situation. All the women who have been hurt deserve dignity and respect, so I want to give it the time it deserves. It's a time for mourning, really,' she said.
Chapman added that she had shut herself off from the world in the five months after the scandal first broke and hadn't been out in public since. 
'I was so humiliated and so broken... that... I, I, I... didn't think it was respectful to go out,' she said.
'I thought, Who am I to be parading around with all of this going on? It's still so very, very raw. I was walking up the stairs the other day and I stopped; it was like all the air had been punched out of my lungs.'
The couple's six-story home in New York's West Village, which has recently been sold, has now been stripped of anything Weinstein-related, Vogue reporter Jonathan Van Meter noted. 
Chapman and Weinstein reached a divorce agreement back in January. The prenuptial agreement she signed will reportedly pay her out between $15 and $20 million after 10 years of marriage. She will also get custody of their daughter and son. 


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Chapman, above with her daughter India in Manhattan last week, said she fears for her two children in the wake of their father's sexual assault scandal
When the allegations against Weinstein first became public in a series of exposes in the New York Times and The New Yorker, Chapman said it took about two days for the scandal to sink in. 
'I lost ten pounds in five days. I couldn't keep food down,' she said.
'My head was spinning. And it was difficult because the first article was about a time long before I'd ever met him, so there was a minute where I couldn't make an informed decision. And then the stories expanded and I realized that this wasn't an isolated incident. And I knew that I needed to step away and take the kids out of here.'
She fled to Los Angeles and eventually back to London where her parents live.
Chapman noted that she had become friends with Huma Abedin, the estranged wife of disgraced politician Anthony Weiner, in the months before the Weinstein scandal broke.
The pair got to know each other during playdates between their sons.
Abedin, who was also interviewed by Vogue, said their relationship strengthened in the wake of the sex assault claims.
'We just... bonded,' Abedin, a Hillary Clinton aide, said.
'This particular club, ironically, it's not such a small one: women who have had to endure it in such a public way, women like Georgina and me.
'People don't feel sorry for us; you don't get that empathy. People think you're beautiful, you're thin, you're rich, you're photographed on the red carpet, and you get stuck in this category. There's so much more depth beyond all that with Georgina.
'You look at her from the outside, if you don't know her, and you think, She's perfect.
'She could be a model for the clothes she designs. But when you go to the house, she opens the door without any makeup on, and she's stunning, and she's funny and goofy with her children - who are clearly the most important people in her life. 
'She's at the stove making chicken fingers and French fries, and she's one of the realest people I know. There's nothing entitled about her. You believe she is someone who works really hard at being a good and present mom, and doing her job really well.'  

Well, there's none so blind as those who don't want to see.

When I started to read this story and Georgina stated that she was naive about Weinstein’s behavior I thought how naive could she have been.  But reading further it’s obvious she was totally blindsided by the fact Weinstein was leading this double life.  I do feel really bad for her.  She’s been through so much pain and worry for herself and her children.  It will take a long time for her to heal I suspect. I sympathize with Huma Abedin’s thoughts on the public’s sometimes lack of empathy and 
understanding for celebrities and the lives they lead.

I'm sorry, I'm not buying it.  I only met Harvey Weinstein once, and that was so he could have someone to shout at.  He didn't have a good reputation at the hotel where I was working at the time and where he was a regular and I really and truly don't think she was unaware of what kind of a person he was.

She shouldn't be punished for what he did, because I'm sure she would have no way of stopping him.  The man was a bully and I would guess she was a bullied as any other women he was in contact with and probably unable to escape.  What I don't like is her protestations of innocence now.  While she may well not have known specifically what he did and to whom, I don't believe she imagined he was an innocent angel.

I'm assuming that her clothes company is now in critical financial condition as a result of his actions (and that's not her fault in any way) so now she's rehabbing her character to try to break the association between her and him, and a draw a line between them.  I can understand why she's doing this, but I don't like the way she's doing it.

Hmmm, well we will have to agree to disagree on this one Katie  .   I can’t imagine she ever thought of him as an ‘innocent angel’.  She could have many times seen his brusk and rude behavior with others without ever knowing just how far he took his truely evil ways.  She seems credible to me and I would think her clothing business is the farthest thing from her mind right now.

Where was the love, she said I loved my life never mentioned loving her husband or vice versa. 

Let's be honest she is never going to admit she knew what he was doing if she did. She is not that

stupid. She is trying to get her business back  Also, he forced a lot of actress's  to wear her clothes 

how many would have worn them if she offered. Scarlett Johansson just wore one of her 

dresses to the Met Gala.

To be honest, I'm not sure I buy it - and clearly it's not done her business any good at all.

But given that they usually lived thousands of miles apart maybe he behaved for the brief times he was with her........

I'm sure she knew he could be a bully. That's not something you can hide for long. She was probably happy if he behaved fairly decently when he was around the kids, but was just as glad he was away from home so much.

I don't know how much she knew about how he behaved away from home, but I don't think she's the one to punish. He is. Kudos to Scarlet Johansen for wearing one of her gowns and making the point that Harvey's the bad guy in all this - not his wife.

Huma Adedin is right. When the woman involved is rich, beautiful and famous we tend to be a lot less sympathetic.

When the story about Huma's husband came out the first time I felt sorry for her. Then she decided to stay with him and he did it again 

No pity you chose to be with someone who disrespected you and your child. 

As for the sex addict bull, nope not buying it, Weiner got help for this supposed problem yet did it again.

No he got caught and lied as most men would when caught.

Annemarie - It's awfully easy to judge from the outside looking in. I don't know why Huma Abedin went back to her husband.  I don't think I would have - but that doesn't mean she doesn't have her reasons. They'd been together for years. They have a child together. The wedding vows do say "For better or for worse" don't they? Maybe that actually meant something to her.

Whatever her reasons, I don't believe she deserves any less sympathy than any other wronged wife.

I guess it's the right thing to do, to give your partner a second (and third, and fourth, and fifth . . . ) chance.  I guess if you love someone, you don't want to give up on it.  I'm just annoyed that it gave the Clinton campaign such a serious blow as a result.  Not something either of them could have predicted of course!

As for Georgina, I agree she shouldn't be punished for her husband's misdemeanours, but I'm not sure that her clothing business was separate from him.  I can't remember how long ago I'd heard that he basically made celebrities wear his wife's designs.  If I knew that, then certainly she did.  Didn't George have one of his girlfriends dress in Marchesa for a red carpet?  Was is Sarah Larson?  I'd say that the success of Marchesa is largely built on the back of Weinstein's influence and as such isn't entirely free of guilt by association.  I'm not convinced by Georgina's contrition and claims of naivety and innocence.  Sheknows that the success of the company piggybacked on Harvey's success.  Best thing for her is to start up a new design company on her own.  

Huma could well have been blindsided by Wiener's behaviour (at least the first time round), whereas I find it very hard to believe that Georgina hadn't heard any of the rumours about Weinstein.  Couldn't have known what sort of a man he was. Believed that all these celebrities - just coincidentally starring in one of his films that year - really wanted a dress from her only because the design was so good?  It seems a bit much to take.

She had my sympathy the first time, but not the second. 

I don't see how anyone can trust a man or woman  who does this kin of thing. Maybe it's me but my relationship is 

built on trust and respect. And if you do something like this there is no trust and no respect.

Too each theie own we all handle things differently.

Your right Lizzy it is easy to judge we all do it in some form or fashion everyday.

No it was Stacy's gold gown for the Oscars , she was also on a show he produced at the time.

If Weinstein had been a nice guy whose wife happened to be a designer, wold people be so outraged that he asked his stars to wear her gowns? Would it even be an issue? It's not as if the gowns were plug-ugly Frederick's of Hollywood trash.

Good question, Lizzy and I really don't know.  My feeling is that he wasn't a nice guy, and he didn't always ask nicely either.  

I'm not outraged that he asked celebs to wear his wife's dresses.  I'm just a little unbelieving at how his wife now wants to act as though the clothing line and her husband are two entirely unrelated entities.  I'm not sure I buy that.

I think she should cut her losses and start fresh.

Yep, agree.

Even with the (IMO, unrealistic) possibility that she didn't know, her business is associated with her husband in the collective mind.

But, Chapman is close personal friends with several well-known actresses, and the Hollywood community really isn't that big. No way she hadn't at least heard the rumors. Even people whodidn't know, knew someone who did. It would have been her obligation - both as a wife and as a friend to women - to take it to him and either shut it down, or leave him... say, like she did when the story came out.

A legit designer with a built-in following, whose previous business performed well financially, should have no trouble securing financing to start over. And if no financing comes through, it's not like she doesn't have a paid-for house, millions in divorce money, and a secure future for her children. She can 'bootstrap' it.

When I read a story about somebody - usually a man - assaulting other women or children, I always ask myself how his family can be clueless about that. Some years ago, a woman in Austria escaped from a cellar where she had been kept as a sex slave for nearly twenty years - by her own father. He raped her regularly, and she gave birth to several children - two of them were brought up by her own mother who believed that her missing daughter had left them on the doorstep.

She lived in the same house as her family - and nobody, apart from her father, knew about that? That's just beyond my imagination...

Well, a few were ugly , It's the fact women weren't asked they were forced to wear them that's the problem.

He didn't give them a choice if you worked for him you were told to wear her gowns.