Two celebrities have come forward claiming they have been assaulted by convicted sex offender, Rolf Harris.
Television presenter Vanessa Feltz alleges she was assaulted by Harris when the 84-year-old appeared in a Channel 4 “On The Bed” interview back in 1996.
The incident reportedly occurred while the segment was going to air.
“I have kept quiet for 18 years but I have decided to waive my anonymity because I hope it will encourage others to come forward to speak about Rolf Harris or others,” the 52-year-old told the UK’s Sunday Express.
Feltz, who now hosts a BBC radio programme, said Harris’ wife Alwen was in the studio at the time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2edLbgxE3A
“I was lying on cushions on the bed in a long, flowing, floor-length, heavily beaded evening dress. He was sitting very close. As the interview continued, with his wife watching and with the crew all in the room, I suddenly felt a rustling at the hem of my dress,” Ms Feltz said.
“I was on live television so I could not look down, but I sensed that his hand was at the bottom of my dress and he was slowly gathering the fabric up and moving his hand higher and higher up my leg.
“He was carrying on talking as though nothing was going on, smiling and joking, as he moved his hand further up.”
Meanwhile, UK singer Linda Nolan has claimed Harris abused her when she was just 15 years old.
The 55-year-old star says she was on tour with her sisters in Johannesburg in 1975 when Harris allegedly grabbed her as she was walking out of the bathroom.
“He suddenly came out of nowhere and in seconds his hands were all over me,” Nolan told UK’s The Mirror.
“He came right up to me and got me in a huge bear hug. His arms were all over my back, right around me so his hands were touching the sides of my breasts,” she said.
“He rubbed up and down and started kissing and licking the back of my neck.”
“He towered over me. If I’d had to fight him off, I couldn’t have. It was horrible and I was totally dumbstruck.”
Nolan said that when she asked Harris to stop, he replied by saying: ‘Don’t be silly, I’m only giving you a hug.’
Both women have reported the incidents to UK police.
Last week, Harris was sentenced to five years and nine months in jail after being found guilty of 12 counts of indecent assault in a London Court on Tuesday.
Read more at http://news.ninemsn.com.au/world/2014/07/07/05/37/british-celebrity-vanessa-feltz-says-rolf-harris-groped-live-tv#U2btLYMTh3IyJ6jo.99
Top Comments
The voice over is done by a robot. You can tell because at the end he says 'lives' to sound like 'hives' instead of 'lives' to sound like 'She lives in...' It is scary cost cutting in a post human world.
Mamamia and contributors all - the volume of stories coming out of "showbiz and the media" about Harris, and the fact that the behaviour was - surely - noticed and downplayed by managers, should be alerting us all to the need to protect young women in the business now. Like, from now on in. Rolf Harris will have just been the extreme end of a spectrum. It's really important that programs are put in place throughout the media straight away, so that girls and women have clear guidelines on where to go, who to report abuse to and, very importantly, how to deal with straight away with a situation that's just happened - or even happening live on air! Over the last week while these stories of abuse have been surfacing, I have no doubt that women and girls have been being assaulted on sets, in studios, on location. Like media training, young girls and young women should be being trained in how to unfreeze, keep their wits about them. They need a "how to" script rehearsed into their heads so that when something like the Harris abuse happens, they will follow that script and act with trust and without fear. Now - media industry managers and practitioners - over to you.