The warning signs of Harvey Weinstein’s behavior weren’t isolated in Hollywood or even the United States as we’ve come to learn over the past few weeks.
The disgraced studio head was notorious in Cannes, France, where he traveled every year for the annual Film Festival and earned the reputation as “The Pig” among chauffeurs and hoteliers for his behavior.
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A report published by The Hollywood Reporter on Wednesday presents multiple accounts detailing the actions that led to Weinstein’s nickname in the French city, but the most horrifying comes from one of his former chauffeurs.
Mickael Chemloul drove Weinstein around for years.
“I felt like driving poor innocent people, innocent girls, taking them into the wolf’s mouth and I could not tell them ‘where you put your feet, it’s dangerous,‘” Chemloul said, according to Page Six.
The chauffeur, who was one of just a few who would drive Weinstein, said the girls would often come out of the hotel in tears.
“The one that marked me the most was a girl who was a fan of him, who loved him, who followed him for years,” he revealed. “She gave her body, her soul, she gave everything to this gentleman because he promised her to make castings and make a film she never shot.”
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Chemloul told THR he continued to drive “The Pig” around until Weinstein allegedly assaulted him in 2013 after a prostitute pickup went wrong. Chemloul was instructed to pick up two prostitutes at a beach club near St. Tropez with Weinstein in the car, but they weren’t there when they arrived.
“He went crazy and hit me,” Chemloul said. “At that moment, there was no question I’d never work for him again.”
Chemloul’s injuries kept him from working for days, but when he tried to take legal action a local prosecutor dismissed the case. Chemloul is still driving while also working on his first book, tentatively titled, “The Last Monster of Hollywood,” of which Weinstein is the focus.