{"id":123229,"date":"2017-10-12T03:19:40","date_gmt":"2017-10-12T07:19:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=123229"},"modified":"2017-10-12T03:19:40","modified_gmt":"2017-10-12T07:19:40","slug":"musician-liona-boyd-says-weinstein-reports-echo-memories-of-sexual-harassment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/10\/12\/musician-liona-boyd-says-weinstein-reports-echo-memories-of-sexual-harassment\/","title":{"rendered":"Musician Liona Boyd says Weinstein reports echo memories of sexual harassment"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Liona<\/a>
Liona Boyd (Photo By Liona Boyd (rights-holder) \/ Keith Williamson (photographer) – E-mailed by Liona Boyd, CC BY-SA 3.0<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

TORONTO — Classical guitarist Liona Boyd says the mounting allegations of sexual harassment against Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein have stirred up painful memories.<\/p>\n

The five-time Juno Award winner says she encountered powerful\u00a0entertainment\u00a0leaders in the 1970s and 1980s who pressured her to trade sex for a chance at fame.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was in that position too many times,\u201d Boyd recalled Wednesday after writing a social media post in support of the women who have spoken up against Weinstein.<\/p>\n

\u201cThank goodness I was strong enough to say no, but I did lose all kinds of opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said she likely missed out on a chance to appear on the TV series \u201cThe Love Boat\u201d and perform at the White House with Frank Sinatra because she wouldn’t have sex with a man involved in both projects.<\/p>\n

A role alongside actress Nastassja Kinski was also dangled as bait by a screenwriter who wanted to see her audition in his hotel suite, Boyd recalled.<\/p>\n

She decided to return to Toronto instead of forging a career in Los Angeles because \u201cthe price became too evident.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt angry sometimes, I felt used. I felt disappointed,\u201d Boyd said. \u201cI was furious at the time. They were taking advantage of my naivety.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Toronto-based singer first wrote about Hollywood’s \u201ccasting couch mentality\u201d in her 1999 memoir \u201cIn My Own Key: My Life in Love and Music.\u201d But the four stories of sexual harassment she shared were mostly ignored, as attention centred on details about her eight-year romance with former prime minister Pierre Trudeau.<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody asked me about it at all,\u201d she said. \u201c(The book) got reviews but nobody mentioned that, all they wanted to know was about Pierre Trudeau.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of her memories outlined in the book involves a French film director who invited her to a business breakfast and then changed plans at the last minute, telling her to meet him at his hotel room instead.<\/p>\n

Boyd quickly realized it was a mistake.<\/p>\n

\u201cA heavily perfumed monsieur, making what he had calculated to be a dramatic and irresistible impression in a black silk robe, lunged towards me in greeting while his lecherous hands slid below my waist,\u201d she wrote in her memoir.<\/p>\n

\u201cAngrily extricating myself I told him I was expecting a business meeting. He laughed sardonically, ‘Cherie, you look so sexy when you are angry. Let me tame you, my gorgeous lioness.\u201d’<\/p>\n

Boyd said she felt deceived and stormed out, went back to her own room and reprimanded herself for \u201cbeing so naive in regard to men.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTimes were really different, I guess,\u201d the musician said in reflection.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never thought of reporting it. I told my parents, I told my girlfriend … but there was no question about seeing a lawyer or reporting any of these men.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boyd hopes her stories will serve as a warning to industry newcomers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s not just sitting down and playing your guitar and making records,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to deal with the people and the predators, make all these different decisions and try to keep integrity.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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