Rowena Chiu Wants Sexual Assault Survivors To Know 'Every Voice Matters, And You Matter'

Rowena Chiu is a survivor, and she understands firsthand why people who have experienced what she has some days don’t come forward.


the initial time she tried was in 1998: Chiu was 24 years old and working as an assistant as soon as Harvey Weinstein targeted, groomed, and diminished her, and eventually attempted to rape her in a hotel room in Venice, Italy. Though she and also a friend, Zelda Perkins, attempted to report him to both his bosses at Miramax, and to the police, they were told he was also powerful for them to take on.  Both she and Perkins were coerced into signing a punishing nondisclosure agreement that effectively purchased their silence for over two decades.


while she finally talked her truth again, the choice to open up was on her terms. In 2019, two years right after a series of bombshell stories by the New York Times and the New Yorker opened the floodgates for survivors around the world to speak out, Chiu joined the dozens of other survivors who discussed out about the abuse dealt to them by Weinstein. “I took the time to prepare ensure, ‘Do I really wish to be public with this story?’” She told MTV News about the choice to ultimately write an op-ed for the New York Times that was published in September 2019. The answer, she remembers, was overwhelming, and mostly positive. But it wasn’t without one last attempt by Weinstein to smear her: Just before he was set to go to trial, his lawyer denied Chiu’s story, and further mentioned anything “physical” between Weinstein and Chiu had been consensual.


“It isn’t true,” Chiu mentioned the Times. “But muddying the waters is a typical tactic of abusers.”


Since then, Chiu has continued to speak out about her experience. She hopes other survivors are bolstered by her story, and also because the groundswell of voices amplified on social media and by movements like Tarana Burke’s Me Too. Though she has the vantage point of appearing in interviews and documentaries, like Investigation Discovery’s Harvey Weinstein: ID Breaking Now, which debuted on Sunday (April 12), she also believes there’s power in survivors telling even one individual in their life about the violence someone else inflicted on them.


While in a recent phone conversation, Chiu told MTV News what she wishes she knew as a young assistant, how she made time for her mental health while in Weinstein’s New York trial — which wrapped with a 23-year sentence in early March — and how she hopes that more survivors of color continue to speak out about their experiences.


MTV News: How are you feeling these days, especially soon following the verdict came down?


Rowena Chiu: as the verdict was mixed, I felt mixed that day. Two of the five counts were guilty, three of these were not. It seemed uncertain which direction things would go as the sentencing was then due another week or so away, also it was between five to 29 years. There didn't seem to be a clear indication of whether or not he would just go to jail for a couple of years, get a slap on the hand, and then restart his film agency, or whether this was actually a very serious indication of how rape cases will be tried. I think the sentencing was much more meaningful. 23 years certainly felt like clear indictment along with a success for the Me movement, plus a way to move forward.


MTV News: How did you take care of your mental health during the trial sentencing? And why do you safeguard your well-being while you tell people your story? 


Chiu: The trial was definitely emotionally complicated for a lot of us. We had given our stories to the DA, and were waiting to be able to see who could be selected to actually take the stand. So there was a nervousness from not knowing whether or not you'd be one of [those] people. I'm sure I share with several of the other survivors [feeling] a combination of trepidation, perhaps relief at not being chosen,  maybe even slight guilt because other females are going forward and having to be brave to tell their story… along with incredible compassion for the ladies that did go forward. That could have been any of us.


A lot of us were bracing for a unanimous acquittal. There was a really interesting Jezebel article entitled, “We Have Been Taught To Expect Nothing.” And I thought the headline itself was very fascinating. In some ways, we're habitually preparing for the worst, especially in terms of rape convictions because frequently the worst happens. We're not thought, we're laughed at, we're shunned. If our cases do come to trial they often result in acquittal.


There's evidence to propose that even any time while you go for now as to tell your story and it's incredibly painful and traumatizing, your perpetrator doesn't just be in jail, the sentence is often light or they're often released early due to other mitigating circumstances. We saw it with the Brock Turner case. The legal system has often failed girls time and again, so it was hard to believe that we would get to where we are right now. Although he [Weinstein] got 23 years and he's actually in back of bars. It's more than any of us could have expected.


MTV News: How do you make space for your healing and for your mental health these days?


Chiu: For me, the assault itself took place a really long time ago, and I was 24 at the time. In several ways my life right now is very different from how it was back then. I'm no longer a young person. I don't work in film. My focus really is on raising my four little children.


Several of the survivors  have moved into different places. Certainly it's essential to go via regular streams to look immediately after ourselves: Get therapy, confide in the people closest to us, take time for ourselves to think, work, and talk through things. I took two years immediately following the story came out in October 2017 before I made a choice to speak out. I didn't rush it. I discussed to my parents and my sister, I discussed to my closest companions at that time, and to Zelda, to make sure that I was really willing to come forward. I thought very deeply about all of the options. If I had come forward with everybody else in October, 2017 any time If I was very much being hounded by journalists, I would've felt rushed, like it was somebody else's decision.


I feel like I've owned my decision. Writing about it in the New York Times also gave me a sense of ownership. I required to be ready because a lot of survivors have come forward, not just Harvey survivors, although survivors of rape overall, particularly Asian-American survivors.


MTV News: Is there anything that you know right now that you wish you had known whenever you were that 24-year-old? 


Chiu: One thing that would have blown my mind is if I had known about the ladies that came before and the girls that would come right after. And needless to say that is one of the huge dangers of the nondisclosure agreement. It was only once we had the strength all of those dozens of survivors that came forward that we were able to tell our story and be believed.


At that time, there was very little we may have done differently that would've led to a different outcome, because frankly we had no power. We had no cash. We were two very young girls who were fighting really hard to prepare the story public, and not a sole soul imagined us. And journalists have come they've gone, and so they haven't been thought themselves. Often they've had components of the story, however it was still shut off. The story was buried up until there was a time in history where it was able to come out, then the momentum built around the Me Also movement happened.


One interesting theory is that, had Trump not been in the White Residence, and had girls not been furious about Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford, and around privileged white males who clearly assault girls although then are able to continue with their positions, maybe there wouldn't have been momentum here. It was a very long road, and it's not a given that Weinstein would have stood trial for any of those assaults. It's the effort of dozens of us — hundreds of us actually, not just the survivors although also the support network of journalists, attorneys, PR agents. Everybody played their part to bring these stories to trial.


MTV News: One of the things that really struck out at me in the Discovery documentary is that the filmmakers discussed to a couple of the survivors who are ladies of color. How do you know the culture has shifted with regard to believing survivors more broadly, and specifically survivors of color?


Chiu: I would love to think that the culture has shifted. Of course the verdict and the sentencing of this case are a wonderful signaling that survivors will be imagined. Ongoing, there really are still issues: I don't think it's a given that ladies who come forward will be considered. I wish it was, nevertheless I think it's still going to be a struggle for survivors to be considered, and I think it's going to be an added struggle for ladies of color.  There really are several cultural, there's theological reasons why that's true, why we are far less thought and we get much less air time.


Unfortunately, I don't think it's as simple as a cultural shift. Change happens incrementally. More survivors have spoken out, which destigmatizes the speaking out. Whether or not you'll actually have the ability to get justice and get your case to trial or be considered, that's still a fight. However I think it's really critical survivors continue to speak out. You don't have to be on the front cover of a newspaper or be on television to speak out. Coming out to your parents about it or speaking to your partner about it or telling a close friend — all of that is really critical. Don't just keep it to yourself.


The more girls of color that can speak out allocate a figurehead for others to rally around and to think, I can do that. Chanel Miller and Evelyn Yang have also inspired me to continue with this journey. There really are so few Asian and Asian-American females out there who have spoken about sexual assault experiences that each one is emotionally very crucial to me. Definitely judging by the hundreds of letters I've procured from young Asian assault victims, I think we're doing some good and making some change. I'm hoping we are inspiring a young generation so that they don't have to be silenced and oppressed in the way that we were.


MTV News: This month is also sexual assault awareness month. What message would you have for survivors, and for allies?


Chiu: Don't be afraid to speak out in case you could. For several decades I was really afraid to speak to anybody. And even any time my story went public, I was still afraid to speak to anybody. Nevertheless I would mention right now, own your voice. It's a valuable voice. Don't ever think that your voice doesn't matter. I spent a long time thinking there really are other more high-profile victims of Harvey that have come forward, like Ashley Judd and Gwyneth Paltrow. They have experience in the media and their stories matter and people will listen to them because they're pretty and white and rich and they're glamorous. I thought nobody would really  be interested in my story. I was amazed at the answer that I got, which was largely positive.


Every voice matters, and you also matter. Don't be silent because you think you’re unimportant. Whenever you tell somebody, even if that someone's just a trusted friend and they're not in any way going public with the story, I think you release something in yourself. That's really key. You don't hide in this shell of blame and silencing. That has never done anybody any favors. If you're also afraid to go to law enforcement, you're also afraid to go to the media, or you're also afraid converse with your own parents, find that one trusted person that you could converse with because speaking out is in itself an empowering act. And then naturally, the normal caveats apply. Get therapy in case you could. If something happens to you that's a crime, report it in the event you feel able to, because it's critical even if we're not believed.


My message to allies... This is an interesting question. I think males have often felt sidelined: They don't know what to mention and so they don't know what to do and so they think of it as predominantly a “woman's thing.” As in, ladies are speaking out, they're getting more empowered and they're telling their stories and I'm just going to stand aside and let that happen. Yet I must make this point too: A lot of the conversation has been about binary gender, boys and ladies. And needless to say, gender is much more complex. We must leave room for male survivors, and for survivors of any gender because they're much more at risk in several ways.


I think also, at least in private beyond closed doors, it supports the if allies also come forward, which I mean in terms of boys who are able to speak out to their own families or their closest companions about and process their own feelings, because it is perplexing. The allocate problem of consent, the distribute problem of relations, communication essentially between people, because this is what it comes down to.  It’s key that our allies raise their voices in cultural debate about consent, about rape, because if they don't raise their voice it just becomes a narrative of predator and prey. And then it just becomes this dichotomy between evil boys that commit rape and other sexual assault atrocities and these susceptible females that are their prey who are fighting back.


This interview has been edited for length.


If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, help is obtainable. You could call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800.656.HOPE or visit rainn.Org. Find out more at metoo.Mtv.Com.