Rose McGowan Accuses ‘Sideways’ Director Alexander Payne Of Grooming And Raping Her At Age 15

Actress and #MeToo activist Rose McGowan alleged on Monday that acclaimed director Alexander Payne (“Election,” “Sideways,” “The Descendants”) “groomed” and raped her at age 15.

First, McGowan alleged from her Twitter account on Monday that the two-time Academy Award winner showed her a softcore porn he had directed for Showtime in his Silverlake apartment before dropping her off on a street corner.

“Alexander Payne. You sat me down & played a soft-core porn movie you directed for Showtime under a different name. I still remember your apartment in Silverlake. You are very well-endowed. You left me on a street corner afterwards. I was 15,” she tweeted.

Alexander Payne. You sat me down & played a soft-core porn movie you directed for Showtime under a different name. I still remember your apartment in Silverlake. You are very well-endowed. You left me on a street corner afterwards. I was 15. pic.twitter.com/mVqiN4S9NW

— Rose McGowan (@rosemcgowan) August 17, 2020

McGowan then followed up the allegation with a lengthy Instagram post in which she said that she initially thought her “sexual experience” with Payne at age 15 was just a sexual experience.

“For years I had thought a man I had sexual relations with was a a sexual experience I had. I now know I was groomed. I auditioned for him at 15. After my experience with him, I quit acting entirely until I was ‘discovered’ at 21,” she alleged. “When that happened, I was like, f**k it, let’s do this. I even tweeted a congratulations on his Oscar win in 2012, that’s how deep in the Cult of Hollywood I was.”

“It wasn’t until three weeks after the Weinstein story broke that I re-evaluated the situation,” she continued. “I feel badly about throwing a bomb into someone’s life and career, but I guess that’s social conditioning. I’m more sad than angry. Sad for 15 year-old me. Sad for the adult me that still thought it was a choice I made. Grooming is real.”

McGowan then advised people in similar situations to retrain their brain into understanding that what they experienced at such a young age was not a sexual encounter, but a crime.

“If you are out there trying to have sex with an underage minor, you are committing a crime, even if the minor doesn’t know it,” she said. “I was attracted to him, so I thought it was on me, but that’s not correct. I was not an adult.”

McGowan concluded her post by warning people to spot groomers when they see them, likening them to “wolves.”

View this post on Instagram

Last night I dropped a bomb of truth. For years I had thought a man I had sexual relations with was a a sexual experience I had. I now know I was groomed. I auditioned for him at 15. After my experience with him, I quit acting entirely until I was ‘discovered’ at 21. When that happened, I was like, fuck it, let’s do this. I even tweeted a congratulations on his Oscar win in 2012, that’s how deep in the Cult of Hollywood I was. It wasn’t until three weeks after the Weinstein story broke that I re-evaluated the situation. I feel badly about throwing a bomb into someone’s life and career, but I guess that’s social conditioning. I’m more sad than angry. Sad for 15 year-old me. Sad for the adult me that still thought it was a choice I made. Grooming is real. I want you all to know that it’s not your fault if you were mentally massaged into thinking it’s okay. It is not. I know this now. I would even go up to this director at events and ask him, with a smile, “remember when you had sex with me at 15?” And I would laugh it off. That is deep societal programming. If you are out there trying to have sex with an underage minor, you are committing a crime, even if the minor doesn’t know it. I was attracted to him, so I thought it was on me, but that’s not correct. I was not an adult. When it happened, I’d recently been left behind in Hollywood by a family member to fend for myself. The wolves preyed. Please recognize that if this has happened to you, the shame is not yours, it’s theirs. Give it back. Groomers are skilled operators and at 15, I was not aware of the warning signs. I named him on Twitter, but since Instagram is my softer side, I just don’t want his name here. Goddess bless us all, except for those that abuse their power. Here’s to freedom, yours and mine.

A post shared by Rose McGowan (@rosemcgowan) on Aug 17, 2020 at 1:56pm PDT

Payne would have been 27 when McGowan was 15 in 1988. He has not responded to the accusation as of this writing.

McGowan was one of a handful of women who accused disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein of rape when the #MeToo movement first kicked off in 2017. She most recently made headlines by calling for the arrest of Bill Clinton for his relationship with convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. She also chastised the DNC for inviting Bill Clinton to speak at the convention despite the allegations that he visited convicted  Epstein’s sex island in the Caribbean.

“I voted for @JohnKerry in 2004, @BarackObama in 2008 and 2012, and @HillaryClinton in 2016. And I am tired. Tired of watching @TheDemocrats sell out to corporations then use the fascist GOP as cover for their complicity. I didn’t leave the Democratic party. The party left me,” tweeted Ryan Knight.

McGowan responded, “Bill Clinton speaking at the DNC’s convention is the COMPLICITY MACHINE AT WORK. YOU DO NOT SUPPORT SURVIVORS. A lesser of two evils is still evil. The @ProudSocialist is correct. Burn it all down. By the people and for the people!”

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