The family of the executive, who was Rose McGowan’s talent manager at the time of her alleged rape by Harvey Weinstein, say she killed herself after ‘inaccurate accusations and insinuations’

The family of a former producer and studio executive who killed herself say that she became “collateral damage” in the scandal engulfing Harvey Weinstein.

Rose McGowan's memoir Brave details alleged rape by Harvey Weinstein Read more

Jill Messick, who had worked as an executive at Weinstein’s film company Miramax and as a manager of actor Rose McGowan, died in Los Angeles on Wednesday aged 50. She had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and struggled with depression for many years, her family told the Hollywood Reporter in a statement that sharply criticised Weinstein, McGowan and members of the media for spreading mistruths about her.

“Jill was victimized by our new culture of unlimited information sharing and a willingness to accept statement as fact. The speed of disseminating information has carried mistruths about Jill as a person, which she was unable and unwilling to challenge. She became collateral damage in an already horrific story,” the statement said.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Rose McGowan. Photograph: Taylor Jewell/Invision/AP

McGowan had been a client of Messick’s at the time of the actor’s alleged rape by Weinstein at the Sundance film festival in 1997. McGowan had recently said that Messick failed to support her in her fight against Weinstein and later took a job with him. Messick worked at Miramax between 1997 and 2003.

Messick’s family say McGowan told her about the incident without calling it rape, and that Messick, realising something inappropriate if not illegal had happened, reported it to her senior bosses months before she went to work under Weinstein at Miramax.

The family add that Messick chose not to come forward and defend herself from McGowan’s “slanderous statements” for fear of undermining other women who were coming forward to report sexual abuse. “She opted not to add to the feeding frenzy, allowing her name and her reputation to be sullied despite having done nothing wrong,” the statement said.

Weinstein, who has been accused of sexual misconduct by more than 80 women, has dismissed the claims made by McGowan as “a bold lie” and last month quoted from an email from Messick to defend himself. The email said that McGowan told Messick she consensually got into a hot tub with Weinstein and later regretted it. Weinstein also denies all other claims of non-consensual sex made against him.

Messick’s family said she had written the email at Weinstein’s request before the allegations against the mogul were made public. They said it “offered the truth based on what she remembers Rose telling her about the Sundance account”, but that Weinstein had made it public without Messick’s consent.

Reading what the family describes as “inaccurate accusations and insinuations” made against Messick took a toll on the producer’s health, they claimed. “Seeing her name in headlines again and again … along with Harvey’s desperate attempt to vindicate himself, was devastating for her,” the statement said.

Messick, who joined Lorne Michaels Productions after leaving Miramax, served as executive producer on a number of films, including She’s All That, Frida and the Tina Fey comedies Mean Girls and Baby Mama. In a statement, Fey described Messick as “a fiercely dedicated producer and a kind person”.

The Guardian has contacted both Weinstein and McGowan for comment.