Goldie Hawn Recalls Standing Up To Harvey Weinstein For Undermining Her Chicago Role

While Harvey Weinstein’s reputation couldn’t get any worse, Goldie Hawn begs to differ.

The Oscar-winning actor told Variety on Wednesday that she had been set to produce and star in an adaptation of the musical Chicago when she was in her early 40s, which would have co-starred Madonna.

However, Weinstein, the former head of Miramax Films, commissioned a new script – in which her character was rewritten as being 23 years old.

“Harvey basically undermined me and Madonna,” Goldie told the US publication. “I really don’t know how she felt about it. You know, she just went with the tide.”

Goldie said she had been cast as Velma Kelly in the late 1980s project, while the Like A Prayer singer – who had already risen to global fame by this point – was set to star opposite her as Roxy Hart.

When Weinstein stepped in, Goldie confronted the now-disgraced movie mogul.

“‘Don’t fuck with me,’” she recalled telling him. “‘Because I know just what you’re doing. We made a deal.’”

Goldie remained out, however, and Weinstein’s rewrite sat for decades.

Finally, when his studio shepherded the project into an Oscar-winning film in 2002, Catherine Zeta-Jones won the Best Supporting Actress trophy — for the same role Goldie had worked toward.

While Goldie was presumably interested in the project for more than the accolades (and had already won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Cactus Flower in 1970), she demanded Weinstein pay her what they had negotiated for her work, nonetheless — and won.

“You stand up to a bully, and sometimes you win,” she told Variety about getting Weinstein to compensate her.

“I said to him afterward, ‘You know what the best part of you paying me is? Not the money. You restored my faith in dignity and ethics.’ Little did I know.”

While rumours of sexual assault had surrounded him for decades, Weinstein was officially convicted in 2020 of a criminal sex act and third-degree rape and sentenced to 23 years.

He was convicted in a second trial in February and will essentially spend the remainder of his life behind bars.

“He’s finally living his karma,” Goldie told Variety. 

Help and support:

• Rape Crisis services for women and girls who have been raped or have experienced sexual violence - 0808 802 9999
• Survivors UK offers support for men and boys - 0203 598 3898