Asia Argento denies sexual relations with 17-year-old

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Italian actress Asia Argento has denied sexually assaulting young actor Jimmy Bennett.

In her first public comments since the explosive allegations were first reported on Sunday by the New York Times, Argento said she had been linked to Bennett over several years “by friendship only.”

The paper said that Bennett had accused the actress of sexually assaulting him in 2013 when he was 17 and she was 37. Argento, it said, agreed to pay him 380,000 US dollars after he asked for 3.5 million dollars.

“I am deeply shocked and hurt by having read news that is absolutely false. I have never had any sexual relationship with Bennett,” Argento said in an emailed statement distributed by her Italian lawyer.

Representatives for Bennett did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the matter.

A spokesperson for The New York Times told Reuters: “We are confident in the accuracy of our reporting, which was based on verified documents and multiple sources.”

Chef Anthony Bourdain (L) and actor Asia Argento attend the 2018 Women In The World Summit at Lincoln Center in New York City, April 13, 2018. /VCG Photo‍

Argento said in her statement that Bennett had “unexpectedly made an exorbitant request of money” to her following her media exposure in the accusations of sexual misconduct against movie producer Harvey Weinstein.

Argento was one of the first women to publicly accuse Weinstein. She told The New Yorker magazine last October that he had raped her during the Cannes festival in 1997 when she was 21. Since that interview, she has become an outspoken advocate in the #MeToo social media movement against sexual harassment.

She said in her statement that she and her then-boyfriend, the culinary television star Anthony Bourdain, had “decided to deal compassionately with Bennett’s demand for help and give it to him.”

“Anthony personally undertook to help Bennett economically, upon the condition that we would no longer suffer any further intrusions in our life,” she added.

Bourdain killed himself in June.

Argento said she would oppose the “false allegations” against her and would assume “all necessary initiatives for my protection before all competent venues.”

(Cover photo: Italian actress Asia Argento speaks on stage on May 19, 2018, during the closing ceremony of the 71st edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France. /VCG Photo)

Source(s): Reuters