Glenn Close On Weinstein Effect: 'To Condemn All Men Is Stupid And Counterproductive'

Glenn Close hopes people in the entertainment industry can learn from the reckoning of sexual harassment and assault in Hollywood. 

The 70-year-old actress recently sat down with Jezebel alongside “Crooked House” co-star Max Irons to discuss the upcoming thriller and the recent wave  of sexual misconduct allegations against Hollywood heavyweights, like Harvey Weinstein and Kevin Spacey . 

Close said she was never “preyed upon” by Weinstein, but said he was “known to be a pig.” The producer has been accused of sexual misconduct, ranging from harassment to assault and rape, by more than 60 women . 

Throughout the interview, Close partially blamed biology for predatory behavior, and pointed to “the male DNA.”  

“As more and more people are being exposed and more and more women are being able to come up and say they were abused or preyed upon, I feel that it’s kind of in the male DNA, that if somebody walks in the room, your first thought is, ‘Do I want to fuck her?’ Honestly speaking,” she said. “Women maybe, but not to the same degree. If you expect that to change, I think it’s stupid.”

Close issued a statement to The New York Times  shortly after the paper reported misconduct allegations  against Weinstein. 

“I’m sitting here, deeply upset, acknowledging to myself that, yes, for many years, I have been aware of the vague rumors that Harvey Weinstein had a pattern of behaving inappropriately around women,” she wrote in the statement. “Harvey has always been decent to me, but now that the rumors are being substantiated, I feel angry and darkly sad.”

Close told Jezebel she was initially angry because women have been repeatedly put in situations where powerful men can and do take advantage of them.

“I can put myself into the shoes of a young girl who has no defenses and I’ve learned that there’s fight, flight, and freeze,” Close said. “People say, ‘Why didn’t you just ...’ I can see where you’re in this room and you don’t know the rules. It’s terrifying.” 

Now, Close said, she’s moved away from feeling angry and sad; instead, she hopes for change. 

“I hope this is a tipping point and I hope it will represent a social revolution. Evolution,” she said. “Because the only way I think it won’t keep happening is if we evolve to a different place. It takes both and women. There are men who have acted on it, and men who don’t. To condemn all men is stupid and counterproductive, but just to say, ‘Okay, we’re biological creatures and this is a natural instinct, but we have a social contract.’ And this can, hopefully, evolve into a new culture for us.” 

Head over to Jezebel to read the full interview.