Los Angeles: Oscar winner Kate Winslet says she regrets working with embattled filmmakers Roman Polanski and Woody Allen, who have been facing accusations of rape and sexual abuse for many years.
The 44-year-old actor, who worked with Polanski on 2011 feature "Carnage" and with Allen on 2017 movie "Wonder Wheel", said it is "disgraceful" that the two filmmakers were held in high regard in Hollywood for so long.
"It's like, what the f**k was I doing working with Woody Allen and Roman Polanski? It's unbelievable to me now how those men were held in such high regard, so widely in the film industry and for as long as they were. It's f***ing disgraceful," Winslet told Vanity Fair in an interview.
The actor said the blame should also fall on her shoulders as she chose to star in their films, despite being aware about their chequered history.
"And I have to take responsibility for the fact that I worked with them both. I can't turn back the clock. I'm grappling with those regrets but what do we have if we aren't able to just be f***ing truthful about all of it?" Winslet added.
There has been renewed focus on the two directors in the wake of Harvey Weinstein scandal, which gave birth to the #MeToo movement in October 2017.
Allen has been accused of sexually abusing Dylan Farrow, his adopted daughter with former partner Mia Farrow, in the early 1990s while she was a child. She reiterated her allegations in a 2014 New York Times op-ed and other articles. Polanski, the man behind critically-acclaimed films such as "Rosemary's Baby", "Chinatown" and "The Pianist", had pleaded guilty to engaging in unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor in 1977 after 13-year-old Samantha Geimer accused him of getting her drunk and giving her part of a quaalude.
He served 42 days in jail due to a plea bargain, however, he ran away to France when ordered to serve the remainder of his 90-day sentence. Attempts by the US to extradite him from Europe have been unsuccessful. The case is still ongoing, despite Geimer's requests to have it dismissed.
