A young blonde arriving with a plate full of food
Anne-Marie Withenshaw has certainly left a mark on an entire generation back in the MusiquePlus era. Over the years, she has also become a genuine source of inspiration for many young people, thanks to her curiosity, boldness, and open-minded outlook on the cultural landscape. She has likewise had the chance to interview countless celebrities and to meet many of the biggest international stars.
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Needless to say, today the profession has changed profoundly. It is precisely with this in mind that she stopped by the show Dans les médias, alongside Marie-Louise Arsenault. A rich and meaningful exchange, during which Anne-Marie Withenshaw spoke with a refreshing candor about that era—a time that stands in stark contrast to today.
She notably addressed how, in those years, women weren’t necessarily given the same visibility, that feminist discourse was far less prominent in the public sphere and media, and that all of this unfolded well before the #MeToo movement.
Quentin Tarantino’s words to Anne-Marie Withenshaw, warning her about Harvey Weinstein
It is also within the context of this candid, openhearted conversation with the host that Anne-Marie Withenshaw revisited a defining moment from her past. A memory that, with hindsight, now resonates with full meaning… even though at the time she hadn’t grasped its significance at all.
She realizes that it was after the numerous sexual assault allegations against producer Harvey Weinstein, who is currently serving a 16-year prison sentence in California, that she truly understood the words that the great director Quentin Tarantino had offered her.
«It was a different era (…) The late ’90s, the early 2000s, obviously before MeToo. You’ve crossed Harvey Weinstein with Quentin Tarantino in an elevator?»
« (…)I was in Los Angeles, assigned to cover a Tarantino film, I think it was Death Proof. It wasn’t one of his bigger releases. Anyway, I was there to interview Quentin Tarantino. Of course, his Miramax-era producer was Harvey Weinstein. And film journalists back then were treated like today’s bloggers or the YouTubers of today. That is to say, you’d be there for two days at a hotel for a four-minute interview, and you’d have filmed the junkets of the era. So I grabbed a hearty lunch at the buffet between my interview with Star #1 and Star #2 of the film. And there I was, with a big plate of food because I love to eat. I walked into the elevator, Tarantino was stepping out of the elevator, Harvey Weinstein was in the elevator. And then he said to me: ‘Oh, a blonde girl with a plate full of food getting into an elevator with Harvey Weinstein. Be careful.’ But I didn’t realize what he meant at the time. I was like… I didn’t quite understand what it meant. But it made a lot of sense. It was like: ‘Ah wow, a young blonde arriving with a plate full of food. Be careful. Harvey is very hungry.’»
«He didn’t act. You didn’t experience anything?» the host pressed.
«No, I wasn’t assaulted. I was just on the fourth floor. But years later, around the MeToo moment, I really thought, wow. You know, Hollywood was aware,» added Anne-Marie.
A story at once frightening and deeply troubling, one that is hardly easy to ignore.
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