UNITED STATES
Agence-France Presse
August 21, 2018
By Jastinder Khera
Italian actress and sexual abuse campaigner Asia Argento denied Tuesday having had a sexual relationship five years ago with an underage teen, calling the allegations part of “a long-standing persecution”.
The New York Times reported on Sunday that Argento, 42, a Harvey Weinstein accuser and leading figure in the #MeToo movement, had paid actor and rock musician Jimmy Bennett $380,000 over the alleged 2013 incident at a Los Angeles hotel.
Bennett was two months past his 17th birthday at the time of the alleged encounter, while Argento was 37. The legal age of consent in California is 18.
“I strongly deny and oppose the contents of the New York Times article… as circulated also in national and international news,” a statement issued by her agent said.
“I am deeply shocked and hurt by having read news that is absolutely false. I have never had any sexual relationship with Bennett,” it goes on.
Argento says that she was linked to Bennett “during several years by friendship only”.
The pair had acted together in the 2004 film “The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things”, in which Argento plays Bennett’s troubled mother.
Argento said the friendship “ended when, subsequent to my exposure in the Weinstein case, Bennett… unexpectedly made an exorbitant request of money from me”.
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