Rain Dove, the model who supplied evidence that seems to support Asia Argento accuser Jimmy Bennett, tells TheWrap that they still feel sympathy for the embattled #MeToo figure.
Dove, who is gender non-binary and uses the pronouns “they” and “them,” shot into America’s consciousness Monday after saying they contacted investigators regarding text messages with Argento in which Argento admitted to having sex with Bennet, who was a minor at the time of the encounter.
“I do feel really bad that this person was so impacted by this,” Dove told TheWrap of Argento. “But they should have told the truth. A lot of harm could have been done if they had gotten away with that.”
Argento did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment following the interview with Dove.
Last week, the New York Times reported that it obtained legal documents sent through encrypted emails showing Argento agreed to pay Bennett nearly $400,000 after he accused her of sexually assaulting him at a Marina del Rey, California, hotel room in 2013. Bennett, who played Argento’s her son in the 2004 movie “The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things,” said that he had just turned 17 at the time of their encounter (Argento was 37 ). The age of consent in California is 18.
The story made headlines around the world and caused a rift within the #MeToo movement between those calling for compassion towards Argento and those who believed Argento should have been more forthcoming about the accusations leveled against her by Bennett.
Dove, who is dating actress Rose McGowan, was introduced to Argento in June, soon after Argento’s late boyfriend, TV chef Anthony Bourdain, died of suicide.
“I have no regrets,” Dove said in a phone conversation with TheWrap from Spain, where they are staying along with McGowan. “It’s definitely been a ride. I have a lot of mixed emotions about everything and I just want everybody to be able to come, have a discussion, and start getting us on the right path to rehabilitation.”
Gossip site TMZ published some of Dove and Argento’s texts last week, in which Argento admits that she did, in fact, have sex with Bennett, contradicting an earlier public statement in which she claimed the two were only friends.
“The Public knows nothing, only what the NYT wrote. Which is one sided. The shakedown letter. The horny kid jumped me…,” one of Argento’s texts read.
“So it was rape? Or an attempted sexual action?” Dove asked.
“I had sex with him it felt weird. I didn’t know he was a minor until the shakedown letter,” Argento replied.
Dove told TheWrap they have not spoken to Argento since coming forward. The only exchange they’ve had recently was over text messaging, when Dove said Argento called them a “monster.”
“She felt betrayed and really hurt and she has the right to feel betrayed and really hurt, she confided in me,” Dove said.
There are more unpublished texts, though Dove would not elaborate on them citing an ongoing investigation. But the gist of the remaining texts, Dove paraphrased, was essentially that Asia was hoping that everyone would burn in hell.
“She felt like she was on the brink of getting away with it,” Dove said. “Her message to me was ‘I was so close and that you screwed it for me,’ because she thought I had released the text messages.”
In June, Dove and McGowan flew to Italy to support Argento, a prominent Italian #MeToo figure and one of the first to accuse Harvey Weinstein of sexual misconduct. (Weinstein has denied “any allegations of non-consensual sex.”) The two connected and continued talking in the weeks after Dove and McGowan returned stateside. Dove said they tried to convince Argento to come clean. But realized Argento had no intention of doing “the right thing” after Argento issued a statement in which she denied ever having sex with Bennett.
“It wasn’t even a ‘I have no comment on this this,’ or ‘I am not going to talk to anyone other than the investigators,’ it was a blanket denial,” Dove said of Argento’s statement.
“I’m not an ageist. I’m dating an individual who is older than me … but you’re still talking about a minor and on top of that, a person who was introduced to this individual when they were seven and who was referred to several times as her ‘son.’ It does feel a little off, especially when you talk about the process of grooming, that’s something that you do think of,” Dove said.
McGowan has also faced backlash after urging people to “be gentle” in a tweet following the revelations of Argento’s settlement agreement. But, according to Dove, McGowan — who was close with Argento — meant it about herself.
“People were totally misconstruing that,” Dove said. “She’s really at peace with her decision to support me. She seems really resolved but she’s sad. This person was important in her life. She can’t talk right now. She’s going through her own process. But I know she’s in pain.”
Dove still hopes Argento finds her way back. “I will absolutely help guide and support through the process, on both sides. But she can’t get there unless she walks through the fire,” they said. “I don’t think it will do anything to the #MeToo movement. It’s not made of Asia. The movement is about people coming together.”