Harvey Weinstein accused of beating up French chauffeur in Cannes who 'drove around tearful aspiring actresses for him'

A French chauffeur who worked for Harvey Weinstein in Cannes has told of driving around tearful aspiring actresses after their encounters with him, and accused the film producer of beating him up when prostitutes he expected to meet did not show up.

“We were all afraid of him,” said Mickael Chemloul, who worked for the New York producer from 2008 to 2013. “When he came back angry, he was unmanageable, agonising. He was suffocating.”

Mr Chemloul said that much of his work was ferrying around women – some young actresses, and others models - for Weinstein.

“I had the feeling of driving poor innocent people, innocent girls, to the jaws of the wolf and I could not say to them: ‘Be careful where you’re heading – it’s dangerous,’” he told French TV channel BFMTV.

“When they left Weinstein’s place, there was sadness; they were melancholy. I didn’t know what had happened, but I had to console them – offer them water, or a cigarette.”

Some of the women left Weinstein’s place barefooted and in tears, he said.

“The one that most struck me was a girl who was a fan of his, who loved him and followed him for years. She gave him her body, her soul – everything to this man because he promised he’d find her castings and make a film, which never happened."

Mr Chemloul said the last time he saw her was in 2010, at Nice airport, and she did not have any money for her flight out.

The driver said that Weinstein was frequently abusive and insulting, yelling at him in English: “Stupid driver!”

On July 14, 2013 he alleges that Weinstein, known in Cannes as The Pig, flew into a rage after prostitutes did not turn up at the exclusive Club 55 beach bar in St Tropez, and beat him so severely he was unable to work for four days.

“He went crazy and hit me. At that moment, there was no question - I’d never work for him again,” said Mr Chemloul, who is now writing a book about Weinstein called The Last Monster of Hollywood.

In 2014 he went to the police in Draguigan, but the prosecutor declined to press charges.

A spokesman for Weinstein denied that there had been a fight, and said that the chauffeur had been fired for dangerous driving.

“There was never any altercation between the driver and Mr Weinstein.  The driver was terminated by the company because of his habit of speeding, many times as fast as 140 miles per hour. 

"It is a fallacy that the driver procured any meetings of any kind with anyone for Mr Weinstein or anyone else at the company. He was a driver and that was his sole task.”

Mr Chemloul’s story in the French press was echoed by others in Cannes who spoke to The Hollywood Reporter.

A bartender at the bellini bar of the Hotel du Cap, where Weinstein stayed every spring, said: "With Harvey it's everything you have read, and worse."

The barman, who has worked at the hotel for more than 20 years, added: "He was always in here with one or two young girls, very loud, but we are always polite because he is a guest." 

A former member of the Majestic housekeeping staff who now works at a hotel two blocks away told the magazine she didn't know his famous name, but then reacted immediately when shown a picture. 

"Oh, he was the ugly one who thought he was God," she said.  "I didn't even know who he was, but he was very bossy.

"Men like George Clooney or Brad Pitt, they were such lovely men and so handsome. But not him. He was a mean pig."

Weinstein’s British wife of 10 years, Georgina Chapman, announced her separation from the producer on October 10.

People magazine on Wednesday reported that she was looking after their two children, seven-year-old India, and Dashiell, four, and attempting to salvage her fashion brand, Marchesa.

“Their relationship started out with the understanding that if you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours,” a source close to both told People.

Weinstein helped fund the launch Marchesa in 2004, using his clout as a producer, it is claimed, to compel actresses in his movies to wear her designs.

The 41-year-old was, according to People, aware of her husband’s notorious temper, even apologising “many times for his verbally rough behaviour,” according to the source. But she was not aware of Weinstein’s alleged sexual misconduct. 

“She never would have stayed married if she’d known,” said the source. “She was never with Harvey when he behaved like this.”

Another US gossip magazine, Us Weekly, reported that Chapman is currently surrounded by relatives and close friends and attempting to “focus all her energy on her two young children to try to protect them from everything that’s going on.” 

“He wanted to speak with her about it face to face,” a “close source” told the magazine, detailing the immediate aftermath of The New York Times bombshell expose. 

“They had a heart-to-heart, and she said they would get through this together.” 

The magazine quoted a source as saying that Weinstein told Chapman they could have another child, if she stood by him.

Though their romance was far from “a passionate love affair,” the confidant says, they had a balance. 

“He was a workaholic and she was the devoted mum,” the source said. “They knew their roles. 

"She had heard rumours of infidelity but he denied it. She believed him.”

Chapman has not commented on the report.

The magazine said she is refusing to speak to Weinstein, who is in treatment in Arizona for sex addiction. 

“There is no chance she will take Harvey back,” the source said. “Ever.”