Rose McGowan has strongly rebutted Harvey Weinstein’s denial that he raped her, describing his attempts to discredit her claims as “pathetic” and saying that “the gaslighting will no longer be tolerated”.

On Tuesday (January 30th), the same day that McGowan launched her book tour behind her memoir ‘Brave’ – which details the alleged sexual assault that took place at the 1997 Sundance Film Festival – a lawyer representing Weinstein released e-mails from actor Ben Affleck and from McGowan’s former manager Jill Messick, who both wrote accounts of McGowan’s interactions with them at the festival that apparently clash with her allegations.

Their e-mails to Weinstein and his lawyer do not mention hearing about a non-consensual sexual act, but McGowan says that she told both of them about the assault.

Rose McGowanRose McGowan has hit back at Harvey Weinstein's denial of her claims of sexual assault

A statement from McGowan’s publicist responding to Weinstein’s latest claims on Wednesday, obtained by Entertainment Weekly, said: “Yesterday’s statement from Mr. Weinstein and his attorney Ben Brafman unequivocally proves a continued attempt to malign, smear and ‘slut shame’ Rose McGowan. It is an affront, not only to Rose, but to the hundreds of women who have come forward with their stories of harassment, sexual abuse and rape perpetrated by Mr. Weinstein and those like him.”

More: Rose McGowan was NOT accusing Meryl Streep of ignoring Harvey Weinstein’s behaviour

“This is a sad, pathetic old-fashioned sexist attempt to undermine obvious truth and the gaslighting will no longer be tolerated.”

Former ‘Charmed’ star McGowan, 44, was one of the dozens of women who spoke out about the now-disgraced movie mogul in the New York Times and New Yorker reports that were published back in early October 2017. She got $100,000 as a settlement with Weinstein in 1997 following the alleged assault.

“The statement released yesterday by the retrograde lawyer also clearly proves Mr. Weinstein was on a fishing expedition to target and coerce potential witnesses three months prior to when the first allegations of rape surfaced in the media… These crimes have also been investigated thoroughly by the paper of record, the New York Times, as well as the New Yorker’s incredibly detailed coverage by Ronan Farrow,” McGowan’s statement concluded.

More: Shannen Doherty has criticised the new ‘Charmed’ re-boot