Asia Argento has claimed that she was the victim after a former child actor accused her of assaulting him.

In August, Jimmy Bennett accused the actress of assaulting him in 2013 when he was 17-years-old. Although Argento initially denied the claims, text messages and images obtained by TMX showed Argento and Bennett in together.

Now, Argento’s lawyer Mark Jay Heller has issued a second statement which disputes Bennett’s claim and insists instead that she in the victim.


“She went on to relate that she became ‘frozen’ when he was on top of her and he told her that she had been his sexual fantasy since he was 12-years-old,” the statement confirms

“Asia chose at the time not to prosecute Bennett for sexually attacking her.”

The lawyer also claims that a hush payment made from Argento was done at the insistence of ex-boyfriend Anthony Bourdain.

“When Bennett learned of the romantic relationship between Asia and Anthony Bourdain and believing that Anthony Bourdain was wealthy and had an outstanding reputation to protect and that they were both vulnerable to embarrassment because they were recognized as early and prominent supporters of the #metoo movement”, the statement claims.

“Bennett chose to intrude on that relationship and demanded a financial payment from Bourdain in consideration for not embarrassing Asia and indirectly Bourdain by virtue of Bourdain’ relationship with Asia. Bourdain chose to protect Asia’s and his reputation and to pay Bennett and allowed Bennett to extract payments from him.”


He added: “Asia was completely against this approach because she had done nothing wrong and especially since the incident was initiated and perpetrated by Bennett against her, but she respected Anthony’s choice to avoid the potential intrusion into their relationship and the negative impact it might have against Bourdain and his high profile position in the Media community.”

Argento has been a leading figure in the #MeToo movement since it emerged late last year.