Mira Sorvino Responds to Asia Argento Settlement: ‘I Have Been Heartsick’

By Erin Nyren

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Time’s Up and #MeToo advocate Mira Sorvino has addressed the news that fellow advocate and Weinstein accuser Asia Argento paid a settlement to a former child actor who accused her of sexual assault.

Sorvino wrote on Twitter that she had been abroad for several weeks and was still “reeling” from the news.

“Although hoping against hope that it is not true, here are my current thoughts,” she wrote. “I have been heartsick over the allegations against . Time will clarify things and perhaps she will be exonerated, but if true, there is no lens that makes it better.”

“Child sexual assault is a heinous crime and is against all that I and the MeToo movement stands for,” she continued. “I remain dedicated to fight for all victims and change the culture that encourages abuse of power in sexual relationships.”

On Sunday, the New York Times published a report that documents between lawyers for Jimmy Bennett and Argento, which it had obtained through an anonymous email, showed that Argento had agreed to pay Bennett $380,000 after he claimed she sexually assaulted him in 2013, when he was 17 and she was 37.

Argento released a statement Tuesday morning refuting the claims that she had assaulted Bennett and saying that it was her boyfriend Anthony Bourdain’s idea to give Bennett the payoff.

Sorvino, alongside Asia Argento, came out as a victim of sexual harassment by Harvey Weinstein in the explosive New Yorker report in October of last year. Sorvino has stated that she believes her resistance to Weinstein’s advances may have hindered her career.