Ashley Judd holds sexual harasser Harvey Weinstein's hand
Ashley Judd appeared terrified and a bit shaken when she posed for a red carpet photo with Harvey Weinstein just months after the studio executive sexually harassed her inside his hotel room at the Peninsula Beverly Hills.
The up-and-coming actress, who was 29 at the time, can be seen loosely gripping Weinstein's hand at a 1997 Oscars party, with the actress keeping his hand where she can see it as she digs her elbow into her side and away from her then-boss.
Judd is also flashing a giant, disingenuous smile for photographers at the event, who had no idea at the time that just a few months prior Weinstein had asked Judd to give him a massage and then watch him shower in the nude during a meeting at his hotel.
Weinstein was seen out and about in New York City on Friday morning, carrying some papers under his arm and smiling for the cameras as he made his way to the waiting SUV outside his home.
On Thursday, he provided a copy of the same 1997 Oscars photo from a different angle to the New York Post, suggesting it was proof that he and Judd did not have any major issues after the incident at his hotel.
Scroll down for video
Hands were my eyes can see: Ashley Judd posed for a photo with Harvey Weinstein and Vince Vaughn at a 1997 Oscars party (above), just months after he sexually harassed her at his hotel
Big man on campus: Weinstein (middle) was with his first wife Eve Chilton (right in taupe gown) that night, celebrating the nine Oscars won by his film 'The English Patient'
Hi-ho, hi-ho: Weinstein was seen out and about in New York City on Friday morning (above), carrying some papers under his arm and smiling for the cameras
No worries: Weinstein (above on Friday) is also at risk of possibly losing his job at the namesake company her founded
Also seemingly unaware of the friction that is going on is Vince Vaughn, Judd's co-stars in the 1997 film 'The Locusts' and her escort for the evening.
It is unclear if the meeting was by chance or planned, as Judd and Vaughn both starred in a number of Miramax films at that time and may have been trotted otu as guests of Weinstein.
Weinstein was coming off the best night of his career, with his studio's film 'The English Patient' coming out as the night's big winner, taking home Best Picture and Supporting Actress for Juliette Bincohe on its way to nabbing a grand total of nine Academy Awards.
He was joined by his first wife Eve Chilton at the ceremony that night, but she was nowhere to be seen in photos from the afterparty.
Weinstein and Chilton would divorce in 2004 and are parents to three adult daughters.
Judd was also not pictured again with Weinstein that night, who at the time had also just been involved in an incident with Rose McGowan at the Sundance Film Festival that he eventually settled with the actress.
McGowan has never commented on that alleged incident.
It was after this night that Judd got into the habit of attending events with her sister Wynona and mom Naomi by her side.
Judd, fresh off the success of her role in the film adaption of John Grisham's 'A Time to Kill' was in the middle of filming Kiss the Girls for Weinstein's studio Miramax when she got called in for the hotel meeting.
Judd began bringing her mother and sister to red carpets with her after the 1997 Oscars (Wynonna,Ashley and Naomi above in 1998)
She never went public with the incident however until Thursday, when she detailed the incident for The New York Times in their bombshell investigation into Weinstein's decades of sexual harassment.
Judd said that she felt uncomfortable almost as soon as she arrived in Weinstein's rooms, revealing that she ordered cereal from room service because it would arrive quicker than a hot meal.
Judd said she was asked to give Weinstein a massage and then a shoulder rub, both of which she declined while trying to get herself out of the room.
That is when he asked her to help him pick out his clothes for the day and then watch him shower.
'I said no, a lot of ways, a lot of times, and he always came back at me with some new ask,' said Judd.
'It was all this bargaining, this coercive bargaining.'
She eventually made her escape by joking that Weinstein would have to help her win an Oscar before she would be willing to touch him, stating that the prestige of working for his studio made it too difficult to forcefully shut down his harassment.
'There's a lot on the line, the cachet that came with Miramax,' explained Judd.
Judd was at the Oscars a few months later, though not as a nominee, and in 1998 hosted the Sci-Tech Academy Awards.
Iron Woman: Judd revealed she almost called Weinstein out at the premiere of her film 'Double Jeopardy' two years later in New York City (above at that premiere with Naomi on left and Wynonna on right)
Not so suite: Judd told the New York Times that Weinstein asked her for a massage and later to watch him shower at his Beverly Hills Hotel (file photo of a suite at the hotel above) in 1996
She previously wrote about the same experience in 2015 for Variety without naming Weinstein, simply saying it was a studio mogul.
'I was with a bunch of other actors, and it was critical that it was actors: The exact same thing had happened to them by the exact same mogul,' wrote Judd.
'Only when we were sitting around talking about it did we realize our experiences were identical. There was a mutual strengthening and fortification of our resolve.'
Don't kiss or touch the girl: Judd was filimg 'Kiss the Girls' (above) at the time of the meeting
She later wrote in that piece: 'The ultimate thing when I was weaseling out of everything else was, 'Will you watch me take a shower?' And all the other women, sitting around this table with me, said, 'Oh my god—that's what he said to me too.''
Judd also recalled the moment she almost called Weinstein out at the premiere of her film 'Double Jeopardy' two years later in New York City.
Photos from that event show a different Judd than the one at the 1997 Oscars, with the actress looking poised and steely as she walked the red carpet, surrounded by her mom and sister.
And she did not even bother posing for a photo with Weinsten.
In an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com, Weinstein, 65, expressed profound regret for his inappropriate behavior towards women stretching back decades.
He said that 'I own my mistakes' and that included frank talks with Chapman, 41, a British fashion designer and actress, and his five children aged between four and 22.
Weinstein also said he wants to 'earn the forgiveness' of Judd, but did deny some of the claims she made in her interview with the Times.