Carly Simon says it feels 'unnatural that men can’t say something flattering to a woman without a possible reckoning'

Simon also said Harvey Weinstein "financially raped" her

(Getty Images for Tribeca Film Fe)

Carly Simon has said she thinks the #MeToo movement has made it “dangerous” for men to “act like men”.

The 74 year-old singer made the comments in an interview with The Guardian, promoting her new memoir Touched by the Sun.

Although Simon clarified that she “welcomes” the anti-sexual harassment movement in general, she also shared her misgivings.

“Now I hope that it will go back to a position where things will be normalised,” she says. “Not that I want anybody to shut up or to not tell it like it is, but it also feels a little bit unnatural for me that men can’t say a flattering thing to a woman without there being a possible reckoning.

“I’m a woman and I’ve been subject to that and there was the casting couch in a number of cases in my life that I was harmed by. But I think at this point it’s just dangerous for men to act like men. Not that the men who go overboard and disrespect a woman are acting like men. You know what I mean.”

In addition to her opinion on #MeToo, Simon also shared her experiences with disgraced producer Harvery Weinstein, revealing she had been “financially raped” by him.

“[Weinstein] asked me to score a movie that his wife at the time had made, a little Japanese cartoon, and so I did it in good faith,” explained Simon.

“I hired musicians and scored the movie and, at the recording session, I said: ‘Well, how shall I get paid?’ He said: ‘Well, we’ll figure it out later,’ and he never followed up.

“I think that stealing from one financially may be one step below [doing so] sexually,” she continued.

“Maybe the time will come when we women who have been raped financially will be on the record to talk about that because I know a lot of other women who have been screwed.”

As for how Weinstein was able to escape justice for his alleged crimes for so long, Simon said she believes it was a mixture of the producer’s influence and how he framed his “seduction”.

“People obviously were so intimidated by his power and wanted to be on the receiving end of what one maybe thought of as largesse, that maybe there was goodwill behind all of his seduction,” she commented.

“I can just see him in all the scenes that are painted of him with the women. I was lucky not to be one of them.”

After being accused of sexual misconduct by over 70 women during 2017 and 2018, Harvey Weinstein currently faces at least four criminal charges of sexual assault.

The former chief executive of The Weinstein Company plead not guilty to not guilty to all cases of non consensual sex in August.

A trial is scheduled for January 2020.