Salma Hayek has addressed the allegations she made against Harvey Weinstein in her powerful New York Times essay, and admitted she endured feelings of shame for not immediately coming forward with her story about the disgraced Hollywood producer.
But the actress also expressed that it was in part because she felt her 'pain was so small compared to all the other stories', and revisiting her experience of harassment was so painful.
During a live recording of Oprah Winfrey's SuperSoul - which centred on the current MeToo movement and Time's Up initiative - Hayek recounted (via The Hollywood Reporter): 'When the information about Harvey came out, I was ashamed I didn't say anything.
'But I felt like my pain was so small compared to all the other stories.'
Hayek's New York Times op-ed 'Harvey Weinstein Is My Monster Too' was published two months after dozens of other women shared their allegations in exposés by the newspaper.
Speaking to Oprah, the star revealed that she initially struggled to write the essay, and almost didn't do it because the experience was so emotionally distressing.
'I started crying when they asked and I ended up not doing it,' she continued. 'And then I felt ashamed that I was a coward. I was supporting women for two decades and then I was a coward.'
In her harrowing article, Hayek described a traumatising experience on the set of Frida where she felt forced to do to a sex scene with another woman, which included full-frontal nudity, just to get Weinstein to continue making the movie.
She also claimed that she repeatedly declined Weinstein's propositions - including one to let him give her oral sex.
'In his eyes, I was not an artist,' Hayek wrote. 'I wasn't even a person. I was a thing: Not a nobody, but a body.'
Weinstein has denied allegations of non-consensual activity.
Naomi Gordon is news writer mainly covering entertainment news with a focus on celebrity interviews and television.
