Asia Argento accuses 'Fast and the Furious' director Rob Cohen of sexual assault

close

Video

Fox News Flash top entertainment headlines for January 25

Fox News Flash top entertainment and celebrity headlines are here. Check out what's clicking today in entertainment.

Asia Argento accused "The Fast and the Furious" director Rob Cohen of sexual assault. 

Argento first made her accusation in the Italian newspaper Il Corriere della Sera last week. She noted that it was the first time she spoke publicly about allegedly being raped by the filmmaker while working with him on the 2002 action movie "xXx" alongside Vin Diesel and Samuel L. Jackson. 

Argento confirmed her comments to Variety on Sunday, saying in the Italian publication that she was invited to a private meeting with Cohen, who allegedly gave her GHB, an anesthetic drug sometimes used to drug women prior to an assault. 

"At the time, I really didn’t know what it was. I woke up in the morning naked in his bed," Argento added.

ASIA ARGENTO REPORTEDLY WON'T PAY SEXUAL ASSAULT ACCUSER THE REST OF $380G

In response to the allegations, Cohen released a statement to Fox News categorically denying her account of the incident. 

Rob Cohen has denied allegations of rape brought against him by actress Asia Argento. (Toni Anne Barson Archive/WireImage)

"Mr. Cohen categorically denies Asia Argento’s accusation of assault against him as absolutely false," the statement reads. "When they worked together, they had an excellent working relationship and Mr. Cohen considered her a friend, so this claim dating back to 2002 is bewildering, especially given what has been reported about her in recent years."

Representatives for Cohen did not immediately respond to Fox News' request for comment.

Argento says that she discusses the alleged Cohen incident in more detail in her upcoming autobiography "Anatomy of a Wild Heart," set for release in Italy on Jan. 26.

ROSE MCGOWAN TELLS ASIA ARGENTO: 'BE THE PERSON YOU WISH HARVEY COULD HAVE BEEN'

Ahead of the book’s release, she also spoke on the talk show "Verissimo," where she explained that she didn’t come forward earlier because she wasn’t entirely sure what happened to her and didn’t want to further put her name into the spotlight of the #MeToo movement. 

Asia Argento was one of the first women to speak out against Harvey Weinstein in 2017. (Reuters)

Argento was one of the earliest accusers to speak out against now-convicted rapist Harvey Weinstein. She detailed her experience with the former movie mogul in a New Yorker article that helped kick start the movement that’s held dozens of powerful people in showbusiness accountable for sexual assault or misconduct with women in the industry.

In 2018, a bombshell report claimed that Argento paid $380,000 to an actor who accused her of having sex with him when he was just 17 years old.

However, Argento said that other women speaking out against Cohen in recent months led to her decision to finally share her experience. 

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTER

In 2019, Cohen was accused of sexually assaulting an unnamed woman who The Huffington Post reports was lured to a meeting under the guise of collaborating on a TV pilot. The alleged assault took place in 2015. His daughter, Valkyrie Weather has also previously accused him of molesting her when she was a child and as a teen. She claims he took her overseas to visit sex workers.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Cohen has since denied both claims against him.