Georgina Chapman, the estranged wife of Harvey Weinstein and co-founder of the fashion label Marchesa, has spoken out for the first time since a slew of sexual assault allegations came out against Weinstein in October.
For the June 2018 issue of Vogue, writer Jonathan Van Meter profiled Chapman, who said she hadn't got out in public for five months after allegations against her soon-to-be ex-husband were published. "I was so humiliated and so broken...that...I, I, I...didn’t think it was respectful to go out," she told Van Meter. "I thought, 'Who am I to be parading around with all of this going on?' It’s still so very, very raw. I was walking up the stairs the other day and I stopped; it was like all the air had been punched out of my lungs."
Chapman confirmed that she has seen a therapist following the allegations, but it took her a moment to accept what her life had turned into. "I have moments of rage, I have moments of confusion, I have moments of disbelief! And I have moments when I just cry for my children. What are their lives going to be?"
Chapman and Weinstein have two children, ages five and seven. She continued to say, "It’s like, they love their dad. They love him. I just can’t bear it for them!"
Van Meter wrote that Chapman was sobbing while she spoke about her children and he wrote, "It is almost unbearable to witness, this broken person in front of me."
When The New York Times and The New Yorker published allegations against Weinstein in October, Chapman said, "My head was spinning. And it was difficult because the first article was about a time long before I'd ever met him, so there was a minute where I couldn't make an informed decision. And then the stories expanded and I realized that this wasn't an isolated incident. And I knew that I needed to step away and take the kids out of here." She fled to Los Angeles and then to London.
Chapman said that she is not a victim but rather "a woman in a shit situation" that is not unique. She claimed Weinstein is a wonderful father and was a "wonderful partner" to her, but she wishes she had answers. When Chapman was asked about Weinstein's current state of mind, she said, "Clearly when I was married to him I didn't know anything about his state of mind, so I’m probably not the best person to ask."
In Anna Wintour's Editor's Letter for the June issue, the editor-in-chief wrote, "I am firmly convinced that Georgina had no idea about her husband’s behavior; blaming her for any of it, as too many have in our gladiatorial digital age, is wrong. I believe that one should not hold a person responsible for the actions of his or her partner. What Georgina should be receiving is our compassion and understanding."
