What Brad Pitt did when he found out Gwyneth Paltrow was harassed by Harvey Weinstein.

Gwyneth Paltrow was 22-years-old when she took the job that would catapult her into fame. The price at the time? Working with Harvey Weinstein and staying silent regarding his inappropriate conduct toward her.

They met in his suite at the Peninsula Beverly Hills hotel for a meeting before shooting began for the 1996 drama Emma, Paltrow, now 45, told The New York Times.

It was her first major role – one that saw her move seamlessly into her next role, and another, going onto winning the Academy Award for Shakespeare in Love in 1998.

That meeting with Weinstein, the film producer 20 years her senior who launched her career with Emma, was relatively uneventful, until the end.

Until the end, when Weinstein placed his hands on her and suggested they head to the bedroom for massages.

Listen: We discuss everything happening with Harvey Weinstein, on Mamamia Out Loud. Post continues after audio. 

“I was a kid, I was signed up, I was petrified,” she told the New York Times in an article which was published yesterday, five days after the publication first exposed Weinstein for his 30-year history of sexual harassment and paying his victims for their silence.

Paltrow denied Weinstein his massage and confided in her boyfriend at the time, fellow actor Brad Pitt, who confronted Weinstein at a theatre premiere and told him never to touch Paltrow again. This fact was confirmed by one of Pitt’s representatives when approached by the New York Times.

Weinstein was furious. He called Paltrow and “screamed at me for a long time. It was brutal”.

The 22-year-old actress was worried she would lose her role in Emma, "I thought he was going to fire me."

She kept quiet, kept her job and stood silently beside Weinstein as their film was met with critical acclaim.

Now, as fellow Hollywood heavy-weights, as well as models and members of Weinstein's staff, continue to speak out with allegations of sexual assault against him, Paltrow says that time is over.

"I was expected to keep the secret,” she said. "We’re at a point in time when women need to send a clear message that this is over. This way of treating women ends now."