Asia Argento Walks Runway at Paris Fashion Week Months After Facing Sexual Assault Claims
Asia Argento was featured in one of the shows at Paris Fashion Week, months after facing sexual assault allegations from a former costar.
The Italian actress and singer, 43, walked the runway for Antonio Grimaldi’s Spring/Summer 2019 collection on Monday, wearing a satin-white asymmetrical dress with angel wings fixed to the back and her hair held back in an elaborate bun.
Her stroll down the catwalk came seven months after the suicide death of her boyfriend and beloved chef Anthony Bourdain, 61. Several weeks after Bourdain’s death, the actress then faced sexual assault accusations from actor Jimmy Bennett, who claimed that in 2013, then-37-year-old Argento sexually assaulted Bennett in a California hotel room two months after he turned 17, the report says. (In California, 18 is the age of consent.)
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The New York Times reported that Argento had reached a financial settlement with Bennett, who played Argento’s son in 2004’s The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things.
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In a previous statement, Argento denied having a sexual relationship with Bennett and said he initially reached out following her public accusation of sexual assault against Harvey Weinstein last fall knowing her late boyfriend Anthony Bourdain was “a man of great perceived wealth.” She claimed the late chef then decided to handle the matter quietly and agreed to a settlement of $380,000.
“Anthony was afraid of the possible negative publicity that such person, whom he considered dangerous, could have brought upon us. We decided to deal compassionately with Bennett’s demand for help and gave it to him,” she said. “Anthony personally undertook the decision to help Bennett economically, upon the condition that we would no longer suffer any further intrusions in our life.”