Women and Hollywood Trailblazer awardee Zelda Perkins spoke out about Harvey Weinstein’s use of non-disclosure agreements — aka his way of making sure his victims and employees could not come forward about his rampant abuse and harassment — in front of a British parliamentary committee focused on gender equality. According to Variety, Perkins, a former assistant to Weinstein, testified that the NDA she signed was “a morally lacking agreement on every level.”
Perkins signed the document after Weinstein tried to rape her colleague at the Venice Film Festival. The two were informed they’d be “utterly crushed” if they tried to pursue legal action against Weinstein, Perkins revealed to the committee, which is carrying out an inquiry into workplace sexual harassment.
Eventually, Perkins and her colleague decided to sign the NDA and receive a financial settlement because they saw no other alternative. They were just two people up against the full power of Weinstein and Miramax.
“It’s a morally lacking agreement on every level,” Perkins asserted. “There are clauses in there that preclude me and my colleague from not only speaking to our friends, colleagues, family about our time at Miramax and what happened, but also to any medical practitioner, any legal representative, the Inland Revenue, an accountant, a financial advisor.”
She continued, “We can speak to those people as long as they sign their own non-disclosure agreement before they can enter enter into any conversation with us about anything. Even within that, we were still under pressure not to name anybody that any of the events happened with.”
Perkins left her post to protect her colleague and soon realized the justice system wasn’t on their side. Perkins first spoke in person about her departure from Miramax at a Women and Hollywood 10th Anniversary event. “Nineteen years ago I gave up a job to protect another woman,” she said in her speech. “Nineteen years ago I had total faith that because I had right on my side, this was the normal thing to do and the offender would be exposed. Nineteen years ago I discovered that the system I thought would defend me was as immoral as the man it went on to legally protect.”
Prior to Perkins and her colleague leaving Miramax, Weinstein personally tried to convince them to stay and basically owned up to the assault. “He wanted to keep his enemies close. He offered us more money [and] whatever we wanted,” Perkins testified. “It’s a clear admission of guilt.”
After the assault, Perkins’ colleague went to a counselor but refused to discuss the specifics of the attack because she was so scared of breaking the NDA and suffering Weinstein’s legal wrath. That’s right: Weinstein’s document even precluded the woman from getting the help she needed.
Obviously, the use of NDAs by Weinstein and other predators has to be reformed. This is something Perkins is passionate about, so she presented suggestions on how to update NDAs to the committee via a written statement. She recommended that the documents receive approval from a company’s CEO and board, and that organizations should be obligated to go to the police when there are allegations of criminal acts.
The now-bankrupt Weinstein Company released its employees from their NDAs last week. “No one should be afraid to speak out or coerced to stay quiet,” the company announced. “The Company thanks the courageous individuals who have already come forward. Your voices have inspired a movement for change across the country and around the world.”
