As Harvey Weinstein is butterfly sex position videoofficially ousted from The Weinstein Company and more and more people come forward to condemn his actions over the years, Kathie Lee Gifford has something to say.
On Tuesday morning, the Today Showhost revealed to co-host Hoda Kotb that she, too, has been on the receiving end of sexual harassment from an unnamed producer.
SEE ALSO: Harvey Weinstein made up Jay-Z lyrics in worst sexual harassment response ever"Early early early on in my career in Los Angeles, a producer called me," she said, explaining that as a 21 year old, she agreed to meet with him about a potential management opportunity.
"‘I’ll come to your office,'" she said she told him. "[He said], ‘Well, that’s under construction. I’m working from home right now, so would you mind coming to my house?'"
"I had no reason to think not," Gifford said. "I didn’t know the man personally; I just knew of him. I get to the house, and the exact same thing happened to me. Exact same thing," she explained, referring to the women who went public in the New York Timesexposé, and specifically, to Lauren Sivan, who came forward on Megyn Kelly TODAYabout her horrific encounter with Weinstein.
“I learned from that. Boy, I felt grateful I got out of there without being raped,” Gifford continued. “That’s what you feel like. ‘All right, it was just that. I can live through that.’ But you’re so demeaned, you feel so dirty and more than anything, you know what you feel? Stupid. I just thought, ‘Kathie, you idiot—never go to somebody’s house.’ Now, that can happen in somebody’s office, too.”
Gifford said she's a good friend of Weinstein's and was unaware of the years of allegations and payoffs. "So, it’s very upsetting to me on a personal level. This is a man I considered a friend. I feel for his family, and I feel for him,” she said on the show. “It’s also upsetting for me as a woman that this kind of behavior is real, and no one ever thinks it’s going to catch up with them.”
You can watch Gifford's comments in full above.
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