ROME - Asia Argento has said to be ‘shocked and hurt’ by the New York Times’ ‘fake news’ which accuses her of having a sexual relationship with underage actor Jimmy Bennett; the Italian ‘#MeToo’ campaigner describes how she was ‘persecuted’, however confirms that Bennett was paid, celebrity sources said on Wednesday.

 The famous chef Anthony Bourdain, the actress’ partner until his suicide in France last June, encouraged compensating the young actor so that he would stop harassing Asia. The controversy, yet another against the actress, appeared on Sunday thanks to an article in The Times, quickly becoming the most read on Wednesday morning. Harvey Weinstein, accused by Asia of rape, did not wait long to react; “The hypocrisy shown from this development is staggering.”

 Bennett received 380 thousand dollars to keep quiet about his relationship with Asia. “I think it could have been a conspiracy,” Dario Argento, Asia’s father, said to Ansa. Whilst the New York Times confirmed the credibility of what was written “on the basis of verified documents and many sources” to Ansa, the sheriff of LA has opened an investigation.

 Asia’s version coincides on many points with the newspaper that had noted the problematic economic situation of the young ex-actor. “Me and Bennett have had a friendship for some years which ended when, after I reported Weinstein, he (who was in an economic crisis and had taken on court cases even demanding millions from parents), surprised me with a huge demand. I knew that my partner, Anthony Bourdain, was perceived as a very rich man and had a reputation to protect in terms of how loved he was by the public.”

 According to The Times, the request of 3,5 million dollars was delivered to the chef’s lawyer, Richard Hofstetter, a month before Asia made her case against Weinstein public last October. Bourdain helped Asia to ‘manage’ the incident, The Times wrote, although it was another lawyer and expert in online bullying Carrie Goldberg who negotiated with the boy.

 “Anthony insisted the matter was handled privately,” Asia said in a note released by the Italian lawyer Leonardo Proni. “This was Bennett’s desire too. Anthony feared the possible public negativity that this person could bring us, who he considered dangerous. We decided to meet him. Anthony committed to helping Bennett on the condition that he would not intrude on our lives anymore.”

  The agreement was reached in April. Amongst the “verified, but anonymously obtained” sources by The Times, there is a letter from Goldberg to Argento that organises a payment schedule to “help Mr Bennett”.

 Goldberg wrote that “We hope that nothing like this happens again. You are a creative, powerful and inspiring individual and you find yourself in a terrible situation with lousy individuals who are targeting both your strengths and weaknesses.”

 Sky Italia is also waiting for developments in the story, announcing their desire to exclude the actress from the judging panel in the next edition of the X Factor which is due to start on Sept. 6, the New York Times reports.

 cb