Ronan Farrow Addresses His Harvey Weinstein Investigation: ‘He Did Train His Spies on Me’

Ronan Farrow estimates spending approximately one year investigating and collecting the firsthand sexual assault allegations against Harvey Weinstein that many believe sparked the #MeToo movement. While discussing his efforts with Adrienne Westenfeld in an Esquire Q&A, Farrow dove into the details of how the Weinstein bombshell came to light and the challenges involved. One of those challenges was Farrow dealing with a group he inferred were spies commissioned by Weinstein.

“He did train his spies on me,” Farrow told Westenfeld. “For all of us, working on these stories is a challenge in not making a story about ourselves.”

Farrow also referenced New Yorker writer Ben Wallace, who Farrow reported was one journalist Weinstein allegedly used private investigators and security agencies against.

While the claims made against Weinstein are particularly disturbing, Farrow implied that during his investigation he uncovered stories of something potentially worse than the idea of Weinstein allegedly forcing himself on dozens of women.

“I initially was digging into pedophilia in Hollywood in the context of Corey Feldman’s claims and the allegations against Bryan Singer,” Farrow said. “I had spoken to Corey Feldman, and there were a number of other stories of that type. As often happens in television news, not all of those made the final cut. I fought to keep those and some of them were deemed too dark for that particular format.”

Farrow didn’t get any further into the specifics of which stories were “too dark for that particular format.”

Despite any challenges he and his colleagues faced while reporting, Farrow repeatedly shifted focus back to the women who went public with their Weinstein stories.

“What I went through was nothing compared to the trauma that women went through in reliving these experiences and speaking out,” Farrow added.

You can read Westenfeld’s complete interview with Ronan Farrow via Esquire.