As the hours draw along, more details from the Asia Argento statutory rape story comes to the light. As first reported by The New York Times, Argento paid former child actor Jimmy Bennett $380,000 to keep silent about a sexual interaction between the two. Bennett originally starred with Argento in The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things in 2004 when he was only eight years old. The two stayed close for years, and Argento allegedly took advantage of Bennett when he was 17 years old. The two met at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Marina del Rey, CA on May 9, 2013, a fact that is verified by a picture on Argento's Instagram account. Argento denied that she had sex with Bennett, claiming that the two were friends and that she and former lover Anthony Bourdain paid Bennett the money to help him out of a tough financial spot. Argento didn't share the behind the scenes pics, but unfortunately for her, TMZ did. They also shared alleged texts messages of her admitting to sleeping with Bennett.
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Now, Bennett is speaking up for himself for the first time since the scandal became public. He released a statement to The Times, where he admits that he and Argento did have sex. He is maintaining the story that he was taken advantage of. “I tried to seek justice in a way that made sense to me at the time because I was not ready to deal with the ramifications of my story becoming public,” Bennett wrote in the statement. “At the time I believed there was still a stigma to being in the situation as a male in our society. I didn’t think that people would understand the event that took place from the eyes of a teenage boy. I did not initially speak out about my story because I choose to handle it in private with the person who wronged me,” he said. “My trauma resurfaced as she came out as a victim herself.”
“I have had to overcome many adversities in my life, and this is another that I will deal with, in time,” he continued. “I would like to move past this event in my life and today I choose to move forward, no longer in silence.”
