Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie are coming forward with sexual harassment allegations against Harvey Weinstein.

In part two of the New York Times’ explosive expose – following Oct 5’s bombshell report chronicling decades of sexual harassment allegations waged against the studio mogul – the actresses went public with their stories for the first time on Tuesday (Oct 10).

“I was a kid, I was signed up, I was petrified,” Paltrow said about her experience as a then 22-year-old on the set of 1996’s Emma.

Jolie recalled a similar incident. “I had a bad experience with Harvey Weinstein in my youth, and as a result, chose never to work with him again and warn others when they did,” Jolie said in an e-mail to the Times.

“This behaviour towards women in any field, any country is unacceptable.”

LOS ANGELES – Italian film star Asia Argento and two other women claim that disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein raped them, in a bombshell New Yorker expose published on Tuesday.

The women’s allegations against the 65-year-old movie mogul, according to the magazine, include unwanted oral sex and forced oral and full sex. Weinstein denies all charges, according to a statement from his spokeswoman Sallie Hofmeister, circulated among US media.

The accusations will be seen as a hugely damaging escalation of the scandal engulfing the Oscar-winning producer, as the numerous allegations which led to his weekend sacking from The Weinstein Company had so far been limited to complaints about harassment.

New Yorker writer Ronan Farrow spent 10 months interviewing 13 women who reported they were harassed or assaulted by Weinstein.

The investigation was published as fresh misconduct allegations emerged from Hollywood A-listers such as Angelina Jolie, Rosanna Arquette and Gwyneth Paltrow.

Argento, the 42-year-old daughter of iconic horror director Dario Argento, said Weinstein forced oral sex on her 20 years ago.

She told the publication she had maintained her silence until now for fear that Weinstein would “crush” her, adding: “I know he has crushed a lot of people before.” She said Weinstein, who has weighed up to 300 pounds (136 kilograms), terrified her due to his immense size.

“It wouldn’t stop. It was a nightmare,” she added, revealing that she had felt forced to pretend she was enjoying the attack in hopes that it would be over with sooner.

Argento acknowledges that her credibility may be compromised by the fact that she eventually yielded to his advances, even growing close to him and having consensual sex with him multiple times over the following five years.

She said she felt “obliged” to submit, however, and worried that he would ruin her career if she rejected him.

“Just his body, his presence, his face, bring me back to the little girl that I was when I was 21… After the rape, he won,” she told the New Yorker.

Lucia Evans, an aspiring actress, said she met Weinstein at the Miramax office in New York in 2004 and that he forced her to perform oral sex on him.

“I said, over and over, ‘I don’t want to do this, stop, don’t,'” she told the New Yorker.

“I tried to get away, but maybe I didn’t try hard enough. I didn’t want to kick him or fight him.” .

‘PEOPLE GIVE UP’

Evans said she was overpowered and “just sort of gave up.” “That’s the most horrible part of it, and that’s why he’s been able to do this for so long to so many women: people give up, and then they feel like it’s their fault,” she added.

Another woman, who was too afraid to allow her name to be published, told the New Yorker Weinstein brought her to a hotel room and “forced himself on me sexually.” She thought about going to the police, but decided it would be a case of “he said, she said,” and worried about how powerful his legal team would be, and how much she had to lose.

Another instance involved model Ambra Battilana Gutierrez, once a finalist in the Miss Italy contest, whom the New Yorker said Weinstein met in March 2015 at a reception for a show he was producing in New York.

According to the New Yorker, Gutierrez says Weinstein “lunged at her, groping her breasts and attempting to put a hand up her skirt” at a meeting in his offices in Tribeca.

She reported the incident and the New York Police Department asked her to wear a wire to his play “Finding Neverland.” Audio of their conversation in a hallway at the Tribeca Grand Hotel was released by the magazine, with Weinstein heard repeatedly trying to persuade her to come into his room.

“Why yesterday you touch my breast?” she asks, and he replies: “Oh, please, I’m sorry, just come on in, I’m used to that.” .

CLINTON, OBAMA WEIGH IN

Authorities decided not to press charges, according to the New Yorker, after it emerged the young woman had attended one of former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi’s infamous “bunga bunga” sex parties.

Weinstein was fired late Sunday from his own film studio, three days after a New York Times report alleged that the man behind such hits as “The King’s Speech” and “The Artist” had preyed on young women hoping to break into the industry.

The Times, as well as various entertainment media, separately reported on Tuesday that the litany of Weinstein’s harassment victims also included Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie, Rosanna Arquette and French actress Judith Godreche.

“I was shocked and appalled by the revelations about Harvey Weinstein,” former Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton said in a statement Tuesday, while former President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle said they were “disgusted” at the longtime Democratic Party donor.

“Any man who demeans and degrades women in such fashion needs to be condemned and held accountable, regardless of wealth or status,” they said in a statement.

Variety magazine, citing unnamed sources, said the latest allegations had sparked anger and dismay at The Weinstein Company’s offices in Tribeca and Beverly Hills, where work had ground to a halt.

British actress Romola Garai said she felt “violated” following a meeting with Harvey Weinstein in his London hotel room when she was 18 in which he was in a bathrobe, the Guardian newspaper reported on Tuesday.

Garai, best known for her role in “Atonement”, said she had already been hired for a part but was told to audition privately with the Hollywood mogul because “you had to be personally approved by him.”

“Like every other woman in the industry, I’ve had an ‘audition’ with Harvey Weinstein,” she told the paper.

“So I had to go to his hotel room in the Savoy and he answered the door in his bathrobe. I was only 18. I felt violated by it,” the 35-year-old actress added.

Garai said that once she was in the room the two had a brief discussion about film but she felt “belittled” by his “abuse of power.”

“The point was that he could get a young woman to do that, that I didn’t have a choice, that it was humiliating for me and that he had the power.”

Read also: Streep, Dench voice outrage at Weinstein sex revelations

She said she had not previously raised the incident because film business insiders would be “shocked I even thought it was an issue.”

Weinstein was fired on Sunday from his own film studio, three days after a bombshell New York Times report alleged that the Oscar-winning executive producer behind such hits as “The King’s Speech” and “The Artist” had preyed on young women hoping to break into the industry.

Weinstein’s accusers — who reportedly include celebrities such as Rose McGowan and Ashley Judd — say the 65-year-old tycoon had promised to help advance their careers in exchange for sexual favours, pressuring them to massage him and watch him naked.

Weinstein has expressed regret for his behaviour towards women, saying: “I own my mistakes.”

Movie legends Meryl Streep and Judi Dench led a chorus of outrage including from actors Seth Rogan, Lena Dunham and Patricia Arquette, director James Gunn and fellow producer Judd Apatow.

NEW YORK – The New Yorker reported on Tuesday that 13 women have claimed that movie producer Harvey Weinstein sexually harassed or assaulted them, including three who told the magazine they had been raped.

Weinstein’s spokeswoman Sallie Hofmeister was quoted in the article saying, “Any allegations of non-consensual sex are unequivocally denied by Mr. Weinstein.” Weinstein and the women for whom contact information was available did not reply to Reuters requests for comment. Reuters was unable to independently confirm any of the claims.

“Mr. Weinstein obviously can’t speak to anonymous allegations, but with respect to any women who have made allegations on the record, Mr. Weinstein believes that all of these relationships were consensual,” Hofmeister was quoted as saying.

Weinstein’s wife of 10 years, Marchesa label fashion designer Georgina Chapman, said late on Tuesday that she was leaving him, according to a report in People magazine.

“My heart breaks for all the women who have suffered tremendous pain because of these unforgivable actions. I have chosen to leave my husband,” Chapman was quoted as saying.

Her representatives did not respond to a request for comment.

The New York City Police Department and Manhattan District Attorney’s office said in separate statements on Tuesday that Weinstein was investigated in 2015 over an allegation that he sexually abused one of the women, who was named in the article. The district attorney’s office said there was insufficient evidence to charge him.

Separately, the New York Times reported on Tuesday that actress Gwyneth Paltrow said she was sexually harassed by Weinstein more than 20 years ago and that Angelina Jolie said she “had a bad experience with Harvey Weinstein in my youth and as a result chose never to work with him again.” Jolie and Paltrow did not reply to requests for comment.

The New Yorker reported that Italian actress Ambra Battilana Gutierrez went to police in 2015 claiming that Weinstein had sexually assaulted her.

She was asked by police to arrange another meeting with Weinstein during which she would wear a recording device, the New Yorker reported.

Manhattan Chief Assistant District Attorney Karen Friedman- Agnifilo said on Tuesday, referring to the wire, “While the recording is horrifying to listen to, what emerged from the audio was insufficient to prove a crime under New York law.” Actress Gutierrez could not be reached for comment.

The New York Times published an article last week in which it was alleged that Weinstein had sexually harassed several women over 30 years. After a statement in which Weinstein apologised for his behaviour, his attorney Charles J. Harder said the newspaper’s story was defamatory because it relied on “mostly hearsay accounts and a faulty report.” Weinstein, one of the most powerful men in Hollywood who produced and distributed movies like “Shakespeare in Love” and”Chicago,” was fired over the weekend from his job as co-chairman of The Weinstein Company.

The Democratic National Committee and several Democratic politicians who received political contributions from Weinstein said they would reroute the money to women’s rights groups.

On Tuesday, former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said she was “shocked and appalled” at the reports about Weinstein. She did not mention any contribution but said “the behaviour described … cannot be tolerated.”