Almost 25 years since the attempted rape Rowena Chiu suffered as one of Harvey Weinstein’s multiple victims, she is still going through the long process of healing and restoration.

Chiu was a young assistant at the former movie mogul’s Hollywood film company Miramax at the time.

“Those were very difficult years. It was a dark time being away from my family, my friends and my church. It was really a period of great despair,” Chiu, now 48, told Salt&Light.

Enduring dark times

Chiu, who grew up in Britain, landed a job in Miramax’s London office in 1997 as assistant to Zelda Perkins, Weinstein’s personal assistant at the time. She was 23.

The sexual attack happened in her second month on the job at the Venice Film Festival. Chiu managed to flee his clutches but was later pressured into signing a nondisclosure agreement (NDA) when she tried to report the attack.

Rowena was silenced by a non-disclosure agreement for years until she decided to speak out to advocate change in the social narrative against victims. Photo from her interview with The Times UK.

Weinstein was first convicted of rape and sexual assault in February 2020 and sentenced to 23 years in prison in New York. In February 2023, a Los Angeles court handed him another 16-year term.

These come after various media outlets, led by The New York Times, published stories detailing allegations by multiple women against him, of sexual harassment that took place over the decades.

Chiu was one of those who testified against Weinstein in court late last year.

But for two decades before that, she was silenced from sharing about the incident with even her closest family and friends because of the NDA. Neither could she seek professional help. The despair was so great that she tried to kill herself twice.

“In those very dark times, I only had God to turn to. But I want to be very careful about giving very ‘happy ending’ accounts. I don’t think there was a simple solution,” said Chiu, who grew up in a Christian home and went to church regularly since childhood.

“I don’t think of God as somebody who allowed (the assault) to happen. Evil is not something I would blame God for. I believe in God as a heavenly Father who is the ultimate good.”

We have a responsibility as creatures who are made in God’s reflection to treat one another well. But our world is broken, and rape and sexual assault are among the ways – there are many others – in which we may not be reflective of God’s love for us, Chiu said.

Acknowledging a broken society

Believing in God does not make us immune to hurt and trauma wrought by sin in the broken world. The Gospel offers help, hope, and healing to victims of abuse, but these can take a long time.

As for Chiu, God has called her to now use her story to speak publicly about women and young people.

Rowena (in red) at the red carpet of the 2022 movie, She Said, based on the book by two New York Times reporters who broke the Harvey Weinstein story that launched the #metoo movement. Photo from @chiu_rowena on Instagram.

Churches and fellow Christians also have a responsibility to care for and support victims of abuse, Chiu said, and one way to do that is to not shy away from talking about difficult issues.

And it should start from the top.

“I think it starts by the leadership in the church being open to come forward and acknowledge that we live in a broken society where things like divorce and rape and sexual assault and harrassment happen on a regular basis.

“These conversations weren’t really had when I was a kid. Nothing in my walk with God up to that point had prepared me for what happened (with Weinstein),” she said.

Open conversations

Truly loving and caring for brothers and sisters in Christ would involve more than “giving them practical tips about how not to get pregnant” or handing down “pat answers” from the pulpits.

“Can we sit down and have really open conversations, where we hear from people who live or have lived these conversations? Can we come with openness and ask: How can we support you better?” Chiu said.

There is much we can learn about humility from Jesus, who went on His knees to wash the filth-stained feet of his disciples. The church is called to replicate such beautiful, humble service, too, by offering empathy and compassion in the darkest of times, Chiu said.

“We don’t cast these brothers and sisters out. We embrace them and say, ‘Come talk to us, we aren’t going to judge you.’”

These hard, emotional conversations are especially crucial and relevant for young people – for whom these issues are a very real part of their lived experiences.

“Churches that are able to do this are able to offer support in the truest sense of offering empathy and compassion in the darkest times.

“And that, I really feel, is the feet-washing role of the church that Jesus has called us to,” she said.

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