“I deeply regret not correcting my mistake sooner and apologise to Asia for not doing so.”
Earlier this year, The New York Times published a report detailing allegations of sexual assault made against Asia Argento by former child actor Jimmy Bennett – and a subsequent $380,000 (£295,170) payoff.
Although Argento initially denied ever having a sexual relationship with Bennett, who was 17 at the time of the alleged assault, texts leaked to TMZ later appeared to show her acknowledging that they had had sex.
And, shortly afterwards, Rose McGowan – who forged a friendship with Argento as a result of the MeToo movement – alleged that Argento had confessed to Rain Dove, a model, that she had slept with Bennett.
She also alleged Argento “had stated that she’d been receiving unsolicited nudes of Jimmy since he had been 12.”
Now, though, McGowan has issued an apology to Argento, stating: “On 27 August I released a statement about Asia Argento, which I now realised contained a number of facts that were not correct.”
The Charmed actress continued: “The most serious of these was that I said that the unsolicited nude text messages Asia received from Jimmy Bennett had been sent since Jimmy was 12 years old.”
“In fact, I had misunderstood the messages that Asia exchanged with my partner Rain Dove, which made clear that Jimmy had sent Asia inappropriate text messages only after they met up again when he was 17 (still legally a minor in California, but notably different from a 12 year old).”
McGowan went on to add that she does “not feel that it is my place to comment further on what happened at the Ritz Carlton in Marina del Rey hotel in May 2013, save to say that I now appreciate that it was not as I thought it was previously.”
“In my statement, I challenged why Asia had not acted as I think any responsible adult would if they received sexually explicit messages from a 12 year old,” said McGowan, “which of course do not apply in the same way as when the situation involves a 17 year old.”
Argento has since responded to McGowan’s statement, tweeting, “Although I am grateful to @rosemcgowan for her full apology following her groundless allegations about me, if she had issued it earlier, I may have kept my job on X-Factor and avoided the constant accusations of paedophilia [sic] which I have been subjected to in real-life and online.”
She added in a second tweet, “Now go on, live your life and stop hurting other people, will you Rose? Best wishes.”
Argento has continuously denied having any sexual relationship with Bennett.
Image: Getty
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