Carrie Fisher Once Delivered a Cow’s Tongue in a Box to a Predatory Hollywood Producer

By Jim Vorel  |  October 17, 2017 | 10:33am
Photo via Getty Images, Daniel Baczarski
Movies News Carrie Fisher
Carrie Fisher Once Delivered a Cow’s Tongue in a Box to a Predatory Hollywood Producer

Yet another story is making the rounds on the web today revolving around a sexually predatory Hollywood producer, but this one got significantly more than he bargained for, courtesy of the legendary Carrie Fisher. The Star Wars actress passed away in 2016, but more stories of her badass life continue to emerge all the time. This one is perfectly in character.

The events of the story occurred in 2000, according to screenwriter Heather Robinson (The Perfect Man, Dog Power), a friend of Fisher’s. Speaking with an Arizona radio station, Robinson recounted an occasion when she was sexually harassed by an unnamed Hollywood producer, who allegedly made unwanted advances on her while in his car. In the days that followed the incident, Robinson confided in Fisher, never expecting the Star Wars icon to take personal action. Two weeks later, however, Robinson heard from Fisher again, who told her she had just “personally delivered a Tiffany box to Sony studios, where the executive was based.”

“It was a cow tongue from Jerry’s Famous Deli with a note that said: ‘If you ever touch my darling Heather or any other woman again, the next delivery will be something of yours in a much smaller box,’” said Robinson in the interview.

Yowza. Leave it to the inimitable Fisher to make such a bold promise to inflict severe punishment—truly, she was a force to be reckoned with. Robinson, meanwhile, never told the story until recently, fearful of possible retribution from the producer. As she said to the radio show:

“It happened so quickly that I was ashamed of myself. I thought that I had done something wrong. I thought that, having lunch or dinner with him, I was asking for it. So I stayed quiet for years, because I didn’t want the retribution.”

However, given the ongoing story developing around producer Harvey Weinstein’s alleged sexual misconduct, these kinds of stories have an important educational value right now. Commenting on Weinstein, who was fired by the board of The Weinstein Company last week, Robinson said that sexual assault and harassment happened to nearly every female creative in the industry at some point.

“There’s a very well-known director who I’ve been friends with for a long time,” she said. “I thought that he was amazing. I got a message from somebody that said ‘I just wanted you to know that I appreciated you speaking up and this person raped me and you should know that.’”

As long as this tragedy continues on an institutional level, more of these stories will continue to come to light. And unfortunately for many women, they don’t have a powerful friend like Carrie Fisher to come to their aid or take up the fight for them. We’re thankful that Robinson, at least, had the mighty Leia as a confidante.

 
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