On October 5th, the New York Times published a list of allegations against film producer Harvey Weinstein - an action which would cause a snowball effect across Hollywood. Since then, further accusers have spoken out against Weinstein, with Rose McGowan being the first to publicly accuse the producer of rape. Dozens of actresses and Hollywood personalities took to Twitter to share their own experiences (starting the '#metoo' trend), which eventually led to other prominent names being implicated. Charlie Sheen, Ed Westwick, Kevin Spacey, Sylvester Stallone and Louis CK are just some of the individuals to have been accused of assault or harassment in the wake of Weinstein's exposure, and there's every possibility that another famous figure could be outed at any time. While that's been happening, though, even more allegations about Weinstein's horrendous actions have come to light. A 'secret hitlist' purportedly containing over 90 names of people targeted by Weinstein has been uncovered by The Observer this week. The people on the list are either individuals that had been directly mistreated by the producer, or those who potentially knew enough about the abuse to be a threat to him. In total, the list contains 91 people - all of whom are either actors, publicists, producers, financiers or others working in the film industry. Weinstein's plan was to hire investigators to target those on the list and gather information about what they knew, presumably either to prepare a legal defense against it, or to bribe them into staying quiet. The document is shown to have been written up in January this year, long before news of the scandal broke. Many people consider this as evidence that Weinstein's behavior was actually rather well-known in Hollywood, and that action could (and should) have been taken against him long ago. Most of those on the list are based in the US, but there are at least 10 people from London - one of whom being Sophie Dix, who said her career prospects were “massively cut down” after she accused Weinstein of sexual assault in a hotel. Of the 43 men and 48 women listed, many are people who have already come forward, and so law enforcement has color-coded those who are to be prioritized during the investigation process. People whose names are written in red are individuals that Weinstein was most intent on targeting, so it is likely that their testimonies against him will be most damning. Though more than 50 women have already come forward with accusations of rape, harassment, and inappropriate behavior against Weinstein, the producer still denies any wrongdoing. In addition to claiming there were no "non-consensual" relations between Weinstein and any of the alleged victims, a spokesperson released a statement giving Weinstein's official response to the notion that he hired investigators to spy on potential accusers. “It is a fiction to suggest that any individuals were targeted or suppressed at any time,” he said. Despite this, evidence shows that Weinstein made at least eight settlements with various women over the last three decades. Anonymous sources have revealed that, of the charges which were leveled against him, at least two cases were for sexual harassment and unwanted physical contact. A criminal investigation is ongoing.  

Last week, allegations against Harvey Weinstein reached the press, prompting dozens of women to come forward with complaints about the American film producer. He has so far been accused of rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment - but maintains that all encounters he had were consensual. Despite the numerous cases stacked against him, Weinstein has so far not been charged with any criminal offences. And, while he has been fired from his own company and removed from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, he seems to have escaped public criticism from many of his peers, with some of them even expressing sympathy for him. Even more astoundingly, some people have actually defended Weinstein, claiming that many of his accusers are lying or exaggerating their stories in order to garner some space in the public eye. But why would somebody think that? Why on earth would a woman risk her career, her respect, and her reputation in order to lie about a horrific violation against her body? The problem is, many believe that women and other victims of assault are fabricating their claims, and that sexually-motivated attacks cannot possibly be that common - but that's because they aren't always reported. As we have seen with the Harvey Weinstein cases, victims of assault often feel ashamed or threatened by the ordeal, and are reluctant to take the incident to the police. Moreover, the fear of having to face the attacker later on in court, of having to re-live the incident over and over again for the benefit of others, and then - after all that - of seeing the instigator walk free, is not worth the risk. In order to demonstrate just how often these sorts of violations happen, actress Alyssa Milano tweeted this: "If you’ve been sexually harassed or assaulted write ‘me too’ as a reply to this tweet." [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/Alyssa_Milano/status/919659438700670976]] Within just a matter of hours, 25,000 people had responded - many of them simply replying with those two words, and others elaborating on their experience. [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/AnnaPaquin/status/919661075150159872]] [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/najwazebian/status/919716293602893825]] [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/TheNikkiDuBose/status/919706785073709056]] [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/BethMooreLPM/status/919745870635175937]] The sheer magnitude of responses reminded Twitter users that, just because it's not something we talk about, it doesn't mean sexual assault is uncommon. More reassuringly, it also showed people that they are not alone, and that coming forward about such abuse is not something we should have to fear. Along with confessions were messages of encouragement: [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/womensmarch/status/919705604075216896]] Of solidarity: [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/Amy_Siskind/status/919682953642496000]] And of requests for a change in attitude: [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/Pappiness/status/919752795280027648]] Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie and Cara Delevingne are just a few of those who have come forward with claims against Weinstein. Their accounts - along with others - are reminders of other big names in Hollywood who have been accused of abusing their power and committing acts of sexual abuse against women and/or children; namely Woody Allen, Bill Cosby, and Roman Polanski. Hopefully, the huge amount of responses from women and other victims around the world will reiterate the importance of taking sexual abuse claims seriously, and encourage people to refrain from victim-blanking or shaming. In light of recent events, a spokesperson released this statement on behalf of Harvey Weinstein: "Any allegations of non-consensual sex are unequivocally denied by Mr Weinstein. Mr Weinstein has further confirmed that there were never any acts of retaliation against any women for refusing his advances." Weinstein himself has yet to comment further.

Earlier this week, The New York times published an explosive investigation into the hidden history of sexual harassment by movie mogul Harvey Weinstein. The expose revealed that the 65-year-old Hollywood producer was accused of multiple counts of sexual assault, as claimed by a number of female actresses he worked with over three decades of his career. Since the article was published, a handful more alleged victims have come forward with their own stories. Just yesterday, The New York Times published another article naming the other women coming forward to speak out against Weinstein, including uber-actresses Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie. Paltrow revealed in a new interview that when she was just 22, she was hired by Weinstein for the lead role in the Jane Austen film adaptation of Emma. The now 45-year-old told how before shooting began, Weinstein invited her to his hotel suite for a business meeting. When they finished working, Weinstein allegedly placed his hands on her and suggested they move to the bedroom for "massages".

Paltrow said she refused his come-on, feeling stunned and adding how she felt vulnerable and worried about her fledgling career at the time: “I was a kid, I was signed up, I was petrified.”

After the hotel room incident, 22-year-old Paltrow confided in her boyfriend at the time, Brad Pitt. After hearing about the harassment to his girlfriend, Pitt told the New York Times through a representative that he approached Weinstein at a movie event and told him never to touch her again. Another source told People about what happened: “Brad threatened Harvey. He got right in his face, poked him in the chest and said, ‘You will not ever do this to Gwyneth ever again'.” It was a risky move for Pitt, who was only a burgeoning actor himself. But he wanted to take a stand against the powerful Hollywood producer, the source saying that Pitt “made it clear there would be consequences” if Weinstein made a move again, and “described it as giving Harvey a ‘Missouri whooping.'” Missouri is where Pitt grew up, for those who didn't know. In response, the source said that Weinstein tried to explain at first, but "then he stopped and listened and got the message." After the confrontation, Weinstein warned the young actress not to tell anyone else about his advances. “I thought he was going to fire me,” Paltrow said. Weinstein supposedly phoned Paltrow and blasted her for talking about what happened. “He screamed at me for a long time,” she said, “It was brutal.” Despite the harassment during Emma, Paltrow went on to work with Weinstein on other films over the years, including the Weinstein-produced Shakespeare in Love, for which she won an Oscar. In the same article, Jolie revealed that she worked with Weinstein in the late 1990s when starring in Playing by Heart, and that she also rejected unwanted advances he made on her in a hotel room.

“I had a bad experience with Harvey Weinstein in my youth, and as a result, chose never to work with him again and warn others when they did,” Jolie said in an email to the New York Times.

It makes you wonder though, that surely in her 12-year relationship with Pitt, Jolie probably confided in him as well. While Pitt valiantly defended then-girlfriend Paltrow at the time of her assault, it shows how complicit many people have been regarding Weinstein's behaviour.

It's been said that many people in the industry knew of Weinstein's behaviour, yet stayed silent about it for years. Sixteen former and current executives at The Weinstein Company have recently come forward to testify that they knew of his predatory behaviour, although he was only fired after the news was published in the mass media this week.

When film producer Emily Best found out, she said she was not surprised. “The industry at large,” she said, “provided shelter for his bad behaviour directly and indirectly” by staying silent.

Still, Weinstein has been fired, the man is receiving a severe (albeit delayed) public shaming, AND his wife has finally said she's leaving him, quickly. He had it coming.

Rose McGowan, the woman who helped expose Harvey Weinstein and helped instigate the #MeToo movement, has said that she is "proud" of the Marilyn Manson accusers.

Evan Rachel Wood, the musician's former fiancée, had previously spoken out about an abusive relationship in a 2016 interview with Rolling Stone, but until yesterday (February 1), she had never named her abuser.

McGowan, too, was engaged to Manson prior to their separation in 2001, per the Independent, and following the announcement of the accusations, she released a Twitter statement saying that she stood with his accusers.

Listen to McGowan's statement below: 

The 47-year-old actress said that she was "profoundly sad and disgusted" at the allegations against Manson, but was "proud" of Wood and the other accusers.

She said that Manson, 52, was "not like that" when they were together, but asserted that this had "no bearing on whether he was like that with others before or after."

"They steal time," she said of abusers. "These are time eaters. They steal lives. They steal hopes, dreams, freedom, sexuality, love."

McGowan also called out the "Hollywood cult leaders" who employed Manson when he was with Wood: "You know you are accomplices. All the PR managers, agents, lawyers - the Hollywood cult must be stopped."

Credit: PA Images

In a statement made on her official Instagram account yesterday, 33-year-old Wood wrote: "The name of my abuser is Brian Warner, also known to the world as Marilyn Manson."

Wood continued:

"He started grooming me when I was a teenager and horrifically abused me for years. I was brainwashed and manipulated into submission.

"I am done living in fear of retaliation, slander, or blackmail. I am here to expose this dangerous man and call out the many industries that have enabled him before he ruins more lives. 

"I stand with the many victims who will no longer be silent." 

The Independent reports that in the wake of the allegations, Manson has been dropped by his record label, Loma Vista, and his US publicist told the news outlet that he would no longer be working with the 52-year-old.

Per the BBC, Manson was in a relationship with Wood from 2007 until 2010 when they got engaged only to split later that year.

Hollywood has found itself embroiled in a media storm after The New York Times published a damning exposé chronicling decades of sexual abuse made by renowned film producer, Harvey Weinstein. Weinstein established Miramax in 1979 and quickly went on to become an omnipresent figure in the film industry. After producing a litany of greats such as Pulp Fiction, The English Patient, Shakespeare in Love and Good Will Hunting, Weinstein went onto establish the Weinstein Company - another veritable success. However, it appears that the film mogul's influence and blinding success has shielded him from a long history of sexual misconduct against vulnerable young women. As of now, 29 women have come forward to share their stories, and many of them are household names, such as Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow, Rose McGowan and Ashley Judd. Furthermore, Weinstein's coterie of victims stretches further to established foreign actresses, aspiring performers and office assistants. Now, model and actress Cara Delevingne has come forward to share details of the abuse she endured at the hands of the disgraced producer. In an Instagram post, the 25-year-old model revealed how Harvey Weinstein shamed her for her sexuality and sexually harassed her, leaving her to feel "very powerless and scared". "When I first started to work as an actress, I was working on a film and I received a call from‎ Harvey Weinstein asking if I had slept with any of the women I was seen out with in the media. It was a very odd and uncomfortable call," the Paper Towns star began: "I answered none of his questions and hurried off the phone but before I hung up, he said to me that if I was gay or decided to be with a woman especially in public that I’d never get the role of a straight woman or make it as an actress in Hollywood". [[instagramwidget||https://www.instagram.com/p/BaHc485FRVx/?hl=en&taken-by=caradelevingne]] Cara continued to tell of a particularly harrowing episode, which involved Weinstein inviting her up to his room where he suggested a threesome with an unnamed woman. "A year or two later, I went to a meeting with him in the lobby of a hotel with a director about an upcoming film. The director left the meeting and Harvey asked me to stay and chat with him. "As soon as we were alone he began to brag about all the actresses he had slept with and how he had made their careers and spoke about other inappropriate things of a sexual nature. He then invited me to his room." [[instagramwidget||https://www.instagram.com/p/BZmYGvhFRL6/?hl=en&taken-by=caradelevingne]] "I quickly declined and asked his assistant if my car was outside. She said it wasn’t and wouldn’t be for a bit and I should go to his room. At that moment I felt very powerless and scared but didn’t want to act that way hoping that I was wrong about the situation. "When I arrived I was relieved to find another woman in his room and thought immediately I was safe. He asked us to kiss and she began some sort of advances upon his direction." Cara then proceeded to discuss the emotional ramifications the traumatising episode, admitting that she felt "guilty" and as if she had "done something wrong". "I still got the part for the film and always thought that he gave it to me because of what happened. Since then I felt awful that I did the movie. I felt like I didn’t deserve the part," she wrote. [[instagramwidget||https://www.instagram.com/p/BYCOlQIlrQs/?hl=en&taken-by=caradelevingne]] She added: "I was so hesitant about speaking out… I didn’t want to hurt his family. "I was also terrified that this sort of thing had happened to so many women I know but no one had said anything because of fear." While Cara's courage is certainly applaudable, it does reveal the depths to which Weinstein's actions were covered up and kept secret from the public. Now we can only hope that those who suffered at the hands of Harvey Weinstein will finally be able to get some closure and begin the healing process.