Ashley Judd says she made a deal with Harvey Weinstein to escape his sexual harassment

Ashley Judd says she made a deal with Harvey Weinstein to escape sexual harassment.

Feeling trapped and facing a barrage of propositions years ago in Harvey Weinstein’s hotel room, Ashley Judd says she made a deal with the now-disgraced producer: She would say yes to his sexual advances after she won an Academy Award for one of his films.

He countered with after she was nominated for one. She held firm.

The actress found herself alone with Weinstein in his room for what she thought was going to be a business appointment, she told ABC’s Diane Sawyer in a clip that aired on Thursday on “Good Morning America.” She had not been warned, she said, and had no idea of what he might do.

Judd remembered her stomach lurching when the person at the desk told her she would be meeting with Weinstein in private, rather than somewhere public like the hotel patio. But, she thought, it was a business appointment.

About what she’d eventually offered Weinstein, the 49-year-old said, “Am I proud of that? I’m of two minds. The part that shames myself says no. The part of me that understands the way shame works says, ‘That was absolutely brilliant. Good job, kid. You got out of there.’”

The interview is Judd’s first public declaration since her statements in a New York Times investigation helped open the floodgates on three decades of sexual harassment allegations against Weinstein.