Meryl Streep was "hurt" by Rose McGowan's comments after she slammed the actress for reportedly planning to take part in a "silent protest" against Harvey Weinstein.
Meryl Streep
The 44-year-old star took to Twitter to blast a group of actresses who were reportedly planning to wear black gowns to the Golden Globe awards next month as a symbol of objection against harassment in Hollywood.
Rose insisted the actresses - including Meryl - are hypocrites and suggested they should wear dresses by Marchesa, the label headed by Georgina Chapman, the estranged wife of the disgraced movie mogul who walked out on him after multiple accusations of his sexual misconduct came to light.
She tweeted: "Actresses, like Meryl Streep, who happily worked for The Pig Monster Weinstein), are wearing black @GoldenGlobes in a silent protest.
"YOUR SILENCE is THE problem. You'll accept a fake award breathlessly & affect no real change. I despise your hypocrisy. Maybe you should all wear Marchesa. (sic)".
And now, Meryl, 68, has released a lengthy statement, reaching out to Rose and claiming the pair should be "standing in defiance" together, rather than arguing against one another.
In the statement, which was obtained by the Huffington Post, she wrote: "It hurt to be attacked by Rose McGowan in banner headlines this weekend, but I want to let her know I did not know about Weinstein's crimes, not in the 90s when he attacked her, or through subsequent decades when he proceeded to attack others. I wasn't deliberately silent. I didn't know. I don't tacitly approve of rape. I didn't know. I don't like young women being assaulted. I didn't know this was happening.
"Rose assumed and broadcast something untrue about me, and I wanted to let her know the truth. Through friends who know her, I got my home phone number to her the minute I read the headlines. I sat by that phone all day yesterday and this morning, hoping to express both my deep respect for her and others' bravery in exposing the monsters among us, and my sympathy for the untold, ongoing pain she suffers. No one can bring back what entitled bosses like Bill O'Reilly, Roger Ailes, and HW took from the women who endured attacks on their bodies and their ability to make a living ... And I hoped that she would give me a hearing. She did not, but I hope she reads this.
"I am truly sorry she sees me as an adversary, because we are both, together with all the women in our business, standing in defiance of the same implacable foe: a status quo that wants so badly to return to the bad old days, the old ways where women were used, abused and refused entry into the decision-making, top levels of the industry. That's where the cover-ups convene. Those rooms must be disinfected, and integrated, before anything even begins to change."
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