Donna Karan has given her first interview since defending Harvey Weinstein in a series of comments on the red carpet at the CinéFashion film awards in Los Angeles last week.
To recap, Karan called Weinstein ‘wonderful’ and blamed the women he abused suggesting they were ‘asking for it’.
‘How do we present ourselves as women? What are we asking? Are we asking for it by presenting all the sensuality and all the sexuality? You look at everything all over the world today and how women are dressing and what they are asking by just presenting themselves the way they do. What are they asking for? Trouble,’ Karan said.
Unsurprisingly, Karan’s comments caused widespread anger sparking a tonne of think pieces and many Irate tweets - most notably, Rose McGowan who called Karan ‘scum in fancy dress’.
Now, a week later, as more and more details of Weinstein’s abuse have been been unveiled, Karan has spoken to WWD apologising for her comments and asking for forgiveness.
In the detailed interview Karan explains she was overtired due to extensive travelling and put on the spot by the reporter.
‘It was inappropriate and I just went off. And I shouldn’t have done it. I was exhausted, I was tired and — [when the comments] came back to me, I was shocked that I even said this myself. And I just went off on something that I shouldn’t have, and I apologize profusely. I regret it so strongly,’ she said.
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However, when Foley calls her our for ‘victim blaming’, Karan struggles to defend herself.
‘I think every woman who knows me, and I have [worked for] them in all sizes and all shapes, all I do is want women being free to express themselves. And that has nothing to do with being disrespected, molested and harassed. Absolutely not.’
‘I am apologetic from the bottom of my heart. I am so embarrassed. I don’t even know what to say other than I am so sorry. It was stupid.’
When Foley digs a little deeper about Karan’s friendship with Weinstein and his estranged wife Georgina Chapman, she plays down the relationship, and claims not to know anything about Weinstein’s behaviour, despite it being an ‘open secret’ in Hollywood.
‘Never. Never, never, never have I ever heard this about Harvey. Ever.’
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