Bourdain can’t corroborate her story.
Via Fox News:
Actress Asia Argento reportedly denied sexual assault allegations levied against her and said that her late boyfriend Anthony Bourdain paid her accuser Jimmy Bennett because the then-couple considered him “dangerous” after he asked for financial assistance.
“I strongly deny and oppose the contents of the New York Times article dated 20 August 2018, as circulated also in national and international news,” Argento said in a statement given to reporter Yashar Ali. “I am deeply shocked and hurt by having read news that is absolutely false. I have never had any sexual relationship with Bennett.”
On Sunday, The New York Times published an article claiming that Argento was accused by child star Bennett of setting up a sexual encounter with him in California when he was 17 – below the age of consent in that state – and she was 37.
Argento – one of the first prominent women to accuse disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault – went on to say she was linked to Bennett by “friendship only” which ended when he made “an exorbitant request of money” amid financial problems. Argento said her then boyfriend, CNN star Bourdain, decided to pay Bennett.