A former reporter for The New York Times said Thursday the newspaper "basically . . . killed" an investigative story 10 years ago that top Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein had faced multiple accusations of sexual harassment from several actresses and former women employees.

"I also did an investigative story for The New York Times about 10 years ago when I covered Hollywood for them," Sharon Waxman, who now is founder and publisher of The Wrap, told Jake Tapper on CNN. "And the story basically got killed.

"But it was many of the same kinds of things that I discovered in my reporting in Rome, in London," she added. "It ended up being turned a different way — and a lot of pressure was applied to not let that story appear."

The Times reported Thursday that Weinstein, 65, has reached at least eight legal settlements over the accusations — from actresses including Ashley Judd and Rose McGowan, and from former employees of Weinstein Co. and his first company, Miramax.

The allegations span over nearly three decades, according to the report.

Weinstein, a Democratic Party megadonor, told the Times in a statement he was working with therapists and was planning to take a leave of absence to "deal with this issue head on."

"I appreciate the way I've behaved with colleagues in the past has caused a lot of pain, and I sincerely apologize for it," he said in the statement.

"Though I'm trying to do better, I know I have a long way to go."

Waxman, who founded The Wrap in 2009, cautioned Tapper that "I have known Harvey for a very long time.

"I consider him somebody we cover, but also a friend — but at the same time in the way that these things kind of work in this business.

"A lot of money has been paid over the years and there are nondisclosure agreements," she added. "So, we don't really know a lot of the details."

But a memo detailing allegations written to Weinstein Co. executives in 2015 by Lauren O'Connor, a former assistant, was "a much more substantive accusation," Waxman said.

She added the "very permissive culture" in Hollywood that has accepted sexual harassment for years was now changing and women were become more outspoken.

"The other thing that's going on is the culture has changed," Waxman told Tapper, "and the culture is not as accepting.

"The culture does not accept this kind of behavior anymore — and women are much more emboldened to speak out whereas they were afraid to in the past."