Disgraced Hollywood movie producer Harvey Weinstein has been diagnosed with a form of bone marrow cancer, according to NBC News and ABC News, which both cited anonymous sources.
The 72-year-old former entertainment mogul has chronic myeloid leukemia and is undergoing treatment in a New York prison, the US outlets reported on Monday.
Weinstein’s authorised healthcare representative in New York, Craig Rothfeld, declined to comment, telling ABC: “Out of respect for Mr Weinstein’s privacy, we will offer no further comment.”
Weinstein’s spokesperson Juda Engelmayer told Variety that Rothfeld “expresses profound dismay at the speculation surrounding Mr Weinstein’s medical condition”.
“It is both troubling and unacceptable that such private and confidential health matters have become a subject of public discourse. Out of respect for Mr Weinstein’s privacy, we will offer no further comment,” Engelmayer added.
Weinstein’s reported diagnosis comes a month after he was indicted on a new sex crime charge. He pleaded not guilty to one count of criminal sex act in the first degree in a New York court, relating to an allegation that he sexually assaulted a woman at a Manhattan hotel in 2006.
Weinstein also underwent emergency heart surgery last month, after which his representative said he was “out of danger at the moment”.
Weinstein is serving a 16-year prison sentence after being convicted on rape charges in California.
He was also convicted in New York in 2020 of the rape and sexual assault of an actress and of forcibly performing oral sex on a production assistant, and was sentenced to 23 years in prison in that case.
However, a New York appeals court overturned the verdict in April, ruling that the trial judge had allowed testimony in error from accusers who were not directly involved with the charges facing Weinstein.
A retrial in the case had been aimed for November, though prosecutors had deemed that “unrealistic”.
Allegations against Weinstein helped launch the MeToo movement in 2017, a watershed moment for women fighting sexual misconduct.
More than 80 women accused him of harassment, sexual assault or rape, including prominent actors Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow and Ashley Judd.
Weinstein has claimed any sexual relations in question were consensual.
In 1979, Weinstein and his brother Bob co-founded prominent Hollywood film studio Miramax Films.
Their hits included 1994’s Pulp Fiction and 1998’s Shakespeare in Love, for which Weinstein shared a best picture Oscar.
Agence-France Presse contributed to this report.
