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Heather Graham reveals what inspired her to speak out against Harvey Weinstein

Women in Hollywood have been making their voices heard since the sexual assault and harassment allegations against Harvey Weinstein began — and Heather Graham is one of the stars speaking out.
/ Source: TODAY

Women in Hollywood have been making their voices heard since the sexual assault and harassment allegations against Harvey Weinstein first made headlines earlier this month, and actress Heather Graham is one of the stars speaking out.

In a recent op-ed for Variety, Graham opened up about her own uncomfortable interactions with the filmmaker, and during a Monday morning visit to TODAY, she explained why she finally felt safe doing so.

"I think, hopefully for women everywhere, we feel braver to come forward with our stories and we feel we can stand up for ourselves," she said. "We see a predator is getting some kind of justice."

That call for justice started when The New York Times published an exposé about Weinstein featuring women who went on the record with their claims against the powerful producer, including Ashley Judd.

It was that fearlessness from a fellow leading lady that prompted Graham to say something.

"I think seeing her doing it was inspiring — (and) other women in that article — and I just thought if we don't speak out, we enable this man to keep doing this for decades," she said. "And he shouldn't be doing it."

While Weinstein, for his part, contends that his interactions were never without consent, Graham sees the importance of the growing number of voices countering that message.

"I'm sure it's in every business that women have to deal with this," she said. "I think in the past, we felt we couldn't speak out, we were afraid of losing our jobs. But I think now we're saying that we deserve to be treated better and the workplace should be a safe place for us to be."

Graham can currently be seen on the small screen in the miniseries "Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders" (which airs Tuesdays on NBC), but it's her recent work behind the camera, as a director, that comes to mind as she opens up about the Weinstein scandal.

"Ironically, I did a movie about sexism in Hollywood and sexual harassment is one of the themes of it," she explained. "It's these three women — and it's empowering, and it's a sex comedy — but one of the backdrops is being a woman in Hollywood and dealing with sexism. So it's timely, I guess."

Then again, it would have always been timely.

"It's something that women have been dealing with for a long time," she added. "I guess now it's finally exploding."