Rose McGowan has broken her silence on the death of former manager Jill Messick, who took her own life this week, after Messick’s family accused her of making “slanderous statements” that contributed to a media “feeding frenzy.”
In a post to Instagram, McGowan addressed Messick’s death and blamed Harvey Weinstein for the “damage” he caused to both of their lives, saying:
“For Jill: May your family find some measure of solace during this pain. That one man could cause so much damage is astounding, but tragically true. The bad man did this to us both. May you find peace on the astral plane. May you find serenity with the stars.”
Messick, a veteran producer and studio executive, was working with McGowan at the time of her alleged assault by Harvey Weinstein, and she was named in a New York Times, which accused the actress’ management team of failing to support her after the incident.
In a lengthy statement released this week, Messick’s family said that they wanted to “set the record straight”, since she can no longer speak for herself. They wrote:
“Jill was victimized by our new culture of unlimited information sharing and a willingness to accept statement as fact. The speed of disseminating information has carried mistruths about Jill as a person, which she was unable and unwilling to challenge. She became collateral damage in an already horrific story.”
It continues:
“Over the past few months, many women have come out with allegations against Harvey Weinstein, including Rose McGowan, who has repeatedly spoken with the press, striking out against not only her alleged attacker, but a great many others. One of them was Jill, who chose to remain silent in the face of Rose’s slanderous statements against her for fear of undermining the many individuals who came forward in truth. She opted not to add to the feeding frenzy, allowing her name and her reputation to be sullied despite having done nothing wrong. She never chose to be a public figure; that choice was taken away from her.
You can read their full statement here.
