Helena Bonham Carter knew she could "lose work" if she stood up to Harvey Weinstein.

Helena Bonham Carter

Helena Bonham Carter

The 52-year-old actress admitted she "said no" to the disgraced producer - who has been accused of inappropriate sexual behaviour by dozens of women - on a number of occasions and though it "wasn't easy" for her to speak up, she was able to do so because she already had a thriving career that didn't rely on just his films.

She told The Guardian newspaper: "I already had a career. Other people were employing me. I wasn't reliant on him.

"There were times when Harvey asked me to do certain things, and I said no. I knew I was running a thin line. Standing up to him wasn't an easy thing to do because I knew I could potentially lose work."

The 'Crown' star insisted the movie mogul did have his good points but she admitted she didn't like the "chilling" way he treated people and frequently disagreed with his bullying behaviour.

She said: "Nobody is wholly bad and nobody is wholly good. He was very clever. There are a lot of reasons he was very powerful. He knew how to get you Oscar nominations. Both my nominations are due to him. And he had great taste in films.

"I found the way he treated certain people chilling - without any kind of respect. There were many times I disagreed with the way he behaved, and I don't mean sexually."

And Helena herself was subjected to some of the producer's "revolting" behaviour when she was working on Jean-Pierre Jeunet's 'The Young and Prodigious TS Spivet'.

She recalled: "Harvey wanted me to tell Jeunet to change it. There is a scene in which he hitchhikes and Harvey said as soon as that kid gets into a truck everyone will think the truck driver is a child molester and all the kids in America will be freaked out.

"I said: 'I don't think you're right, and I'm not going to tell Jean-Pierre Jeunet I know better than him.' [He said] 'You've got to tell that arrogant asshole he's being a s**t, he doesn't know the American market like I do.' I found it revolting."

But her experience didn't put her off working with Weinstein after that.

She explained: "It's a business."

And despite industry speculation, the 'Alice in Wonderland' actress always assumed any sexual encounters between Weinstein and other actresses was consensual.

Asked if she'd heard of allegations of sexual abuse, she said: "I was aware certain actresses had had sex with him, but I thought it was consensual."

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