Source:
https://scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/2187262/fast-and-furious-rob-cohen-accused-sexually-assaulting-his
Lifestyle/ Entertainment

The Fast and the Furious’ Rob Cohen denies daughter’s sexual assault allegation, saying ‘I am in great despair’

  • Valkyrie Weather, born Kyle Cohen, accused the The Hurricane Heist and xXx director of molesting her when she was a two-year-old boy
  • Weather, who is transgender, says Cohen also took her to prostitutes as a teen; father says ‘never ever would I harm any of my children, or any child’
The daughter of Rob Cohen has accused The Fast and the Furious director of sexual assault. Photo: Alamy

The Fast and the Furious and The Hurricane Heist director Rob Cohen, 69, is the latest Hollywood name to be embroiled in allegations of sexual assault. The accusations, in this case, came from his daughter Valkyrie Weather.

According to a Facebook post, which later appeared on Reddit, Weather accused the prolific director and producer of molesting her when she was two years old, taking her to visit prostitutes in Asia and the eastern Europe when she was under age, and bragging to her about a further sexual assault on an unidentified woman.

“When I was very young, Rob used my body for his own sexual gratification. My mother witnessed one of the assaults when I was between two and two-and-a-half years old, and has since confirmed what she saw,” the 32-year-old wrote in the original post.

In a statement, Cohen categorically denied the allegations, saying, “never ever would I harm any of my children, or any child for that matter”.

“I am in great despair now,” Cohen wrote. “I am certain that my daughter Valkyrie is also hurting. I pray that she will come to know the truth, and that one day in the future, we can all be whole again.”

Speaking with the Post, Weather confirmed that her mother first told her of the assault in April, 2017. That same year, she confronted her father, and says, that since then, their relationship has been non-existent.

“I totally cut him out of my life,” says Weather.

Cohen directed the original The Fast and the Furious film in 2001.
Cohen directed the original The Fast and the Furious film in 2001.

Weather, who is transgender, also writes that her father “presumably in an effort to turn me into the straight son that he wanted me to be … took me to see sex workers and establishments in Thailand and the Czech Republic starting when I was as young as 13/14 years old”.

Weather also asserts that Cohen would tell stories of raping “at least one other woman, in her sleep”.

“He was partying with a friend and one of the girls fell asleep,” says Weather, who identified herself in the Facebook post as “born Kyle Cohen, the oldest child and trans daughter of film producer/director Rob Cohen”.

“He would tell it as an anecdote. He raped her. He thought it was entertaining.”

Cohen made a name for himself directing blockbuster action films including the first The Fast and the Furious film in 2001, xXx (2002), and more recently The Hurricane Heist (2018).

In his statement, Cohen said: “I have never raped anyone. I know I have been married multiple times, but that is because I fall in love and I still believe in the institution of marriage and family. I am blessed to have wonderful children and as God is my witness, I have never harmed any of them. I may have not been a perfect husband. I am, as all of us are, a person and a parent who has made mistakes along the way, but never ever would I harm any of my children, or any child for that matter.”

Cohen directed The Hurricane Heist in 2018.
Cohen directed The Hurricane Heist in 2018.

The Post can confirm that Weather told acquaintances some of the accusations more than a decade ago (this reporter went to university with Weather and remembers her talking about her father taking her to visit sex workers “in Asia”) and told close friends about instances of sexual abuse two years ago.

In her post, Weather says that “thanks to the #metoo movement” she has been emboldened to speak out, and that she hopes that now “others who have been hurt by Rob Cohen feel that they are able to come forward”.

Speaking over the phone, Weather sounded tired but undaunted: “I have no idea where the chips are going to lie. I don’t know how he’s going to respond but there’s nothing that he can take away from me that he hasn’t already. I am unafraid.”