Paz de la Huerta, victim of Harvey Weinstein: “There are many girls who continue to be exploited in Hollywood”

Paz de la Huerta (New York, 39 years old) is exhibiting some of her paintings at the contemporary art gallery Ruttkowski;68, in the Parisian neighborhood of Le Marais.

It is the first time that this cult actress and underground

icon , muse of directors such as Jim Jarmusch or Martin Scorsese, who was also one of the women who denounced the sexual abuse of film producer Harvey Weinstein in 2017, has

shown her works .

Furthermore, this group exhibition in which she participates until the end of February is a preview of a solo exhibition that she will inaugurate this summer in the same gallery.

Her canvases, impregnated with surrealism and religiosity, are influenced by artists such as Francesco Clemente, whom she defines as “a friend and teacher,” or Jean-Michel Basquiat, who studied at the same school as her, Saint Ann's in Brooklyn Heights. In New York.

“I have been painting since I was a child.

But it was my therapist, Michael Rebel, who encouraged me to do it as a form of therapy.

“He taught me that art could heal me,” explains the actress in a videoconference conversation with EL PAÍS.

“Since I was a child I have gone to many psychologists who have tried to make me understand the true relationship I have with my parents, but it was something so crazy that I did not want to accept it.

In some way I have expressed it through painting.”

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Paz de la Huerta, unexpected Madrid native

Known for her roles in films such as

The Limits of Control and

Enter The Void

or the television series

Boardwalk Empire

, De la Huerta assures that her work speaks of her life: of the abuse that, according to her, she suffered in the family environment.

Also about her constant flight from her parents, whom she accuses, among other things, of alleged harassment or of having tried to admit her to a mental health center.

In one of her paintings, titled

Oh, Father

,

She has portrayed herself as a child, with a black eye, alongside a threatening father figure.

In another,

How I Replaced Every Memory Of My Evil Mother With The Virgin Mary

, she has imagined herself as a baby, mutilated by her own mother.

“Art is my way of seeing things clearly.

I have had many dramas in my life and for a long time they were stored in my subconscious.

How I replaced every memory of my evil mother...

it was the way I found to heal from the damage my mother did to me.

Through therapy and painting I have replaced every memory of her with the Virgin Mary,” she says.

In the canvas titled 'Oh, Father', Paz de la Huerta portrays herself as a child, with a black eye, next to a threatening father figure. Courtesy of Paz de la Huerta and Ruttkowski;68.

The actress's canvases are full of mystical and supernatural references: crying angels, virgins and celestial creatures... “I am a very believer.

I'm catholic.

My faith in Jesus has saved me.

That is why my art is very biblical,” she acknowledges.

She also practices the Yoruba religion, an African cult from which Cuban Santeria or Brazilian Candomblé are derived.

She says she believes in the

orishas

,

spirits sent by the “supreme being” to “show us the way.”

In another of his paintings,

The Fairy Forest

,

a

group of children are seen playing in a forest under the watchful eye of angels or divine beings.

She remembers that she painted it during a stay at the Mount Madonna yoga and meditation center in California, where, according to her, she hid for a while from her family.

“I don't want to say where I live now.

It is a beautiful place, surrounded by animals and fantastic friends.

But if I say where I am, they will come for me,” she says.

"Who is it?".

“My parents,” she answers.

The actress claims that she has been hiding for two years now from her father, the Spanish aristocrat Ricardo Ignacio de la Huerta, Duke of Mandas y Villanueva y Grande of Spain, and from her mother, the American activist Judith Bruce, a renowned expert in the fight against child marriage and violence against girls.

She has filed a complaint against them for alleged sexual abuse, a process that, as her Spanish lawyer explains to EL PAÍS, is currently undergoing preliminary proceedings.

The complaint was filed in the courts of the judicial district of Talavera and, after appealing, it has been reopened in the Provincial Court of Toledo.

“Paz has already testified, her parents have testified and we are waiting for the court to agree to the statement of a witness, after having requested it,” says Esther Romero Simón, from the Le Morne Abogados firm.

They also requested a protection and restraining order, which was rejected.

“The aristocracy thinks they are powerful, but I know the whole truth about them.

I don't mind spending all the money I have on lawyers and requesting protection orders in Spain, France, the United States or wherever.

“I'm not going to stop until I get it,” announces the actress.

She says that, after years of therapy, she has come to the conclusion that her parents were also the ones who put her in front of Harvey Weinstein, the powerful Hollywood producer whom she accused of rape in 2017.

In April of last year, her family denied having been involved in any type of abuse against her or having “sold” her to Weinstein.

“I have had no involvement of any kind in the sexual abuse that, if any, my daughter may have suffered.

As a father, I can only deeply regret that this could have happened to one of my daughters,” said the Duke of Mandas in a letter of rectification addressed to the newspaper

Abc

.

“It is false that at 13 years old (or at any other age) we sold her to Weinstein (or to any other person).

In fact, I have never met Weinstein,” clarified Judith Bruce, her mother, who has advised United Nations groups on strategies to eliminate discrimination and violence against girls.

Ask.

Do any of his paintings reflect what he has suffered in Hollywood?

Answer.

Do you mean

Wein

?

No, I have never painted Weinstein.

Q.

You were one of the actresses who reported it to the producer.

Has she felt penalized by the film industry?

A.

I feel that there is a lot of hypocrisy, especially among women.

There are women who call themselves feminists and then do not behave well with other women.

My mother is an example.

In the work titled 'How I replaced every memory of my evil mother with the Virgin Mary', the performer imagines herself as a baby, mutilated by her mother. Courtesy by Paz de la Huerta and Ruttkowski;68

Q.

Last year, Weinstein, already serving a 23-year prison sentence on rape and sexual assault charges, was sentenced to another 16 years for the same crimes.

How did you receive the news?

A.

It made me angry not to be able to testify in the case.

I blame my family for that.

I don't give up on justice, but honestly, I try to focus my energy on art.

Justice cannot be trusted, but art is allowing me to recover my voice.

I hope my story helps other victims.

There are many girls who continue to be exploited in Hollywood, who continue to fall into drugs or into a spiral of self-destruction.

I could have ended up dead or in a shrink, but I ran away from everything and survived.

Q.

Can someone like Weinstein be forgiven?

A.

It is easier for me to forgive a man like him, who did what he did, than a woman.

I don't want anyone to misunderstand me or think that he justified what he did.

I don't justify it.

But when I was a child I looked for and needed my mother to protect me.

Many of the people who hurt me were women who pretend to be saints or activists, women who I turned to as sisters and who hurt me.

Hypocrisy annoys me more than anything else.

Weinstein did not pretend to be a good man.

My father didn't intend to be either.

De la Huerta was only 14 years old when he first saw and came into contact with Weinstein, founder with his brother Bob of the Miramax production company.

He met him while filming

The Cider House Rules

, by Lasse Hallström, in 1999. At that time, the producer was already successful with box office and critical hits such as

Dogma

and

Shakespeare.

in love.

Eleven years later, in 2010, according to her testimony, the Hollywood mogul raped her twice and just a month apart.

In 2017, at the birth of the Me Too movement, she denounced him publicly and in court, joining a long list of alleged victims.

The NYPD and then-mayor Bill de Blasio called his claims “highly credible,” although his testimony was not included in the case.

The Manhattan district attorney did not file charges.

In 2018, the performer filed a lawsuit against Weinstein in California Superior Court, alleging that her trauma had led her to drink and emotionally destroyed her.

In 2021, she and 40 other actresses and former Miramax employees signed a settlement agreement with the producer's lawyers to end civil lawsuits.

According to

The New York Times

, the collective financial settlement amounted to about $17 million (almost €16 million) and offered different payment levels to victims depending on whether they wanted to free Weinstein from future lawsuits.

“Would I have liked to testify against Weinstein?

Of course,” the actress admits, that she does not regret that pact.

“Money has allowed me to be free.

If not, she would be dead or in a psychiatric hospital and no one would know my story.”

Now, she is writing her memoirs with American journalist Sam Kashner, a contributor to

Vanity Fair

magazine and an expert on the

Hollywood

star system .

'The Fairy Forest', painted in a room at the Mount Madonna yoga and meditation center, California, where he hid from his family.

Courtesy of Paz de la Huerta and Ruttkowski;68

Q.

Would you work in Hollywood again?

A.

Of course.

I love making movies.

I have a project in hand with Tony Kaye.

And I would love to work with Pedro Almodóvar.

Q.

Is Hollywood still a dangerous place for women?

A.

Less than before.

Now, after everything that happened, men in the industry are more afraid.

Hollywood is a less dangerous place than when I started.

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