Asia Argento, the actress whose rape allegations against Harvey Weinstein helped trigger the #MeToo movement, has paid the price for her bravery.

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“I can’t say it helped my life very much,” the 47-year-old told AFP.

Argento’s revelations four years ago that she had been raped by the US producer in 1997 at the age of 21 set off a wave of allegations across the film industry and far beyond.

“It became a tsunami,” she said. It didn’t help me, it put me in a huge depression, but my conscience told me I had to tell the truth.”

The daughter of great Italian horror filmmaker Dario Argento, she is now recounting that episode and the rest of her tumultuous life in an autobiography, “Anatomy of a Wild Heart”.

It caused a stir when it was published in Italy in January for recounting another alleged sexual assault — this time by Rob Cohen (director of “The Fast and the Furious”).

Argento accuses Cohen of drugging and raping her during the filming of “xXx” in 2002. Cohen has denied the accusation, but faces other sexual assault claims, including by his own daughter.

Despite the whirlwind it caused, Argento has no regrets about speaking out against Weinstein.

When I discovered that there were several women who experienced the same thing… that this guy was a serial predator… I couldn’t escape this voice that told me: ‘How will you feel if you know all this and you don’t say anything, she told AFP.  And it wasn’t a failure, because I succeeded in sending this guy to prison.

Weinstein was found guilty in 2020 of dozens of charges of rape and sexual assault and sentenced to 23 years in prison. He is appealing the verdicts.

But she has mixed feelings about the MeToo movement, fearing it has become “almost a fashionable thing. When we hear a word too many times, it loses its meaning. When we speak about something too much, it becomes hysterical.”

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