Model Rain Dove speaks out about Asia Argento allegations

'I did not want to be complicit in something that could be a crime'

Model Rain Dove has spoken out about the sexual misconduct allegations facing actor Asia Argento.

Last month, it was reported that Argento had arranged for actor Jimmy Bennett to be paid $380,000 to keep a potential lawsuit at bay, after he claimed that she gave him alcohol and had sex with him in May 2013, when he was 17-years-old. In California, the legal age of consent is 18.

Argento initially denied having any sexual relationship with Bennett. However, text messages reportedly sent by her to Dove appeared to contradict this.

Dove has now claimed to CNN that they contacted the Los Angeles Country Sheriff’s department and shared information about the alleged incident, adding: “The whole entire thing really just tipped at the point of yes, this person engaged with this individual when they were a minor and that is considered in California, I believe it’s statutory rape.”

Dove, who has been romantically involved with Argento’s fellow prominent #MeToo campaigner Rose McGowan, had previously provided the NYPD with the messages, in which Argento allegedly admitted: “I had sex with him [Bennett]. It felt weird.”

The model, who is gender nonbinary and uses the pronoun they, said that Argento responded to their decision to come forward by calling them a “monster”, but added that they did what they felt was right and just in the situation. ”I did not want to be complicit in something that could be a crime,” Dove said.

Bennett claimed that he suffered from emotional distress after the alleged incident and consequently saw his income drop from $2.7m to $60,000. The LA Sheriff’s office told CNN that it has been unable to contact Bennett.

Asia Argento’s lawyer issued a statement which claims she was the victim of a “sexual attack” by Bennett. In a statement obtained by Rolling Stone, her lawyer claims she did not initiate the encounter, instead she became “frozen” when Bennett allegedly got on top of her, and that she “chose at the time not to prosecute”.

It goes on to state that she “will not permit any portion of the balance” left from the settlement between her and Bennett to pay for “this falsely alleged incident”.

The statement also reportedly makes new allegations against Bennett, including a claim that in 2014 he was charged by the LA police department for “unlawful sex with a minor”, “stalking”, “child pornography” and “child exploitation”.

The magazine said it was unable to locate any reporting from the time about the alleged incident and was unable to reach either Argento’s lawyer or Bennett’s own legal representative.

Argento’s representative claimed that her boyfriend at the time, the late Anthony Bourdain, “chose” to cover the cost of the settlement “to protect Asia’s and his reputation” which was “vulnerable to embarrassment” because they were “early and prominent supporters of the #MeToo movement”.

Argento’s lawyer’s statement says it hopes she will be cleared in the court of public opinion regarding the alleged incident with Bennett, and continues to argue that she was the victim of a sexual attack, and “might even be suffering the fallback of a smear campaign”.

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