Jennifer Esposito claims Harvey Weinstein-style producer once tried to ‘completely end’ her career

Jennifer Esposito claimed that a Harvey Weinstein-style producer once tried to “completely end” her career at the age of 26.

“He literally had the power and used it to completely end a young girl’s career at the age of 26. This was a notoriously brutal producer — a Harvey Weinstein-esque type of person,” the 55-year-old Blue Bloods alum told Em Suss’ podcast She turns last week.

“So he fired me for no reason. He wanted someone else and he got her. But then, like everyone who called and said, “Hey, I want to hire her.” He said, “Don’t take her.” [He] said I was a drug addict. I locked myself in the trailer. [That] never happened. I don’t take any medications. Never did.

‘If you do that, fine, then it’s just not me. And that was a very, very painful time because he, literally, that child sitting at the tables and that child who had this dream since she was a baby, he literally took it because he could and killed it.”

Jennifer was 26 in 1999 – the same year she starred in Spike Lee’s crime thriller Summer of Sam, Lane Janger’s comedy Just One Time and Gary Sinyor’s romantic comedy The Bachelor.

Esposito claimed that the unnamed producer’s blacklisting led to her being dropped by her agent and manager, and she was denied new representation for two and a half years.

The born New Yorker mortgage on her own house to finance her critically acclaimed feature debut Fresh Kills, which was shown in a limited number of American cinemas last Friday.

“I’m sure if that hadn’t happened with that producer, and my path had been easier, I would never have written and directed what I just did,” Jennifer said.

“Because, like I said, for some people who know me well, Fresh Kills was my movie for the 26-year-old kid who was slaughtered.”

Esposito continued, “It was a difficult time. But it was also a beautiful time. Because if I wasn’t that child, I would never have been this woman. And I’m very proud of who I am and very proud of what I’ve done. I gave her her career back the way she could do it. Not like anyone else told me I could do it. I had to right the wrong again.’

The Awkwafina Is Nora of Queens actress wrote, produced, directed and starred as wife-mother Francine Larusso in the Staten Island-set feminist mafia drama in the 1980s alongside Annabella Sciorra, Emily Bader, Odessa A’zion and Domenick Lombardozzi.

Jennifer also has two upcoming acting projects: Todd Turner’s refugee drama The December Cross opposite Judd Hirsch and Kenny Beaumont’s high school comedy F Plus opposite six-time UFC champion Randy Couture.

On a personal note, Esposito married her third husband – fitness trainer Jesper Vesterstrøm – in 2020 following her 2016 divorce from British model Louis Dowler after two years of marriage and her 2007 divorce from 12-time Oscar nominee Bradley Cooper after just five months of marriage. have been. bliss.

The 55-year-old Blue Bloods alum told Em Suss’s She Pivots podcast last week, “He literally had the power and used it to completely end a young girl’s career at the age of 26.” This was a notoriously brutal producer – a Harvey Weinstein type of person’

Jennifer continued, “So he fired me for no reason. He wanted someone else and he got her. But then, like everyone who called and said, “Hey, I want to hire her.” He said, “Don’t take her.” [He] said I was a drug addict. I locked myself in the trailer. [That] never happened. I don’t take any medications. Never done’

Esposito was 26 in 1999 – the same year she starred in Spike Lee’s crime thriller Summer of Sam (pictured), Lane Janger’s comedy Just One Time and Gary Sinyor’s romcom The Bachelor

The native New Yorker has mortgaged her own house to finance her critically acclaimed feature debut Fresh Kills, which opened in select US theaters last Friday (pictured last Friday)

Jennifer wrote, produced, directed and starred as wife-mother Francine Larusso in the Staten Island-set feminist mafia drama in the 1980s, alongside Annabella Sciorra, Emily Bader, Odessa A’zion and Domenick Lombardozzi