Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Getty/Everett Collection
Over the years, actress Julia Ormond recently told Variety, journalists have often asked her, “What happened to you?” Now, we appear to have gotten our answer. In a lawsuit filed Wednesday in New York Supreme Court, Ormond alleges that Harvey Weinstein sexually assaulted her—and that afterward, she “nearly disappeared from the public eye” thanks to his retaliation.
In addition to Weinstein, Ormond is suing Miramax, the Walt Disney Company, and Creative Artists Agency (CAA)—all of which she called “enablers” in an interview with the magazine. While Ormond’s star was on the rise in the mid-1990s, her lawsuit claims that the damage to her career “because of Weinstein’s assault and the aftermath was catastrophic both personally and professionally.” Looking back on profiles of the actress from that era, the tension she’d begun to feel within the industry seems readily apparent.
Representatives for CAA, Miramax, and Disney did not immediately respond to Daily Beast reporter Pilar Melendez’s request for comment on the lawsuit. Imran H. Ansari, a lawyer for Weinstein, told Melendez in a statement that he “categorically denies the allegations made against him by Julia Ormond and he is prepared to vehemently defend himself. This is yet another example of a complaint filed against Mr. Weinstein after the passing of decades, and he is confident that the evidence will not support Ms. Ormond’s claims.”