Asia Argento warned Rose McGowan that she would take legal action if she didn’t retract a statement she made in August regarding the sexual assault claims against her.
On August 27, McGowan said that Argento admitted to having sex with actor Jimmy Bennett when he was 17 years old and had been receiving unsolicited nude photos of him for years before that. The former Charmed actress said she received her information from her romantic partner, Rain Dove.
“Dove said that they had been texting with Asia and that Asia had revealed that she had indeed slept with Jimmy Bennet,” McGowan said in her statement after addressing her former friendship with Argento, with whom she has matching tattoos. “Rain also shared that Asia had stated that she’d been receiving unsolicited nudes of Jimmy since he had been 12. Asia mentioned in these texts that she didn’t take any action on those images. No reporting to authorities, to the parents, or blocking of Jimmy’s social media. Not even a simple message ‘Don’t send me these images. They are inappropriate.’ There were a few other details revealed as well that I am not at liberty to mention in this statement as investigators do their job.”
Argento accused McGowan of libel in a tweet on Monday.
“Dear @RoseMcGowan. It is with genuine regret that I am giving you 24 hours to retract and apologise for the horrendous lies made against me in your statement of August 27th. If you fail to address this libel I will have no option other than to take immediate legal action.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is investigating the claims of the sexual encounter between Argento and Bennet in 2013, but haven’t said anything about bringing charges.
Argento said that Bennet sexually attacked her during the encounter, but her texts to a friend reveal that she admitted to the encounter and called it weird.
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