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The 24-hour period Asia Argento gave Rose McGowan to retract her statement about Argento's sexual assault allegations has passed, and now a lawsuit may be on the horizon.
On Monday, Argento tweeted a message to her former friend and fellow #MeToo activist, asking that McGowan "retract and apologize for her horrendous lies" included in a statement regarding actor Jimmy Bennett's sexual assault case. Bennett alleges Argento sexually assaulted him in a California hotel room when he was 17 and she was 37. Today, on Tuesday, Argento stated that she will proceed with pressing charges against McGowan.
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In the August 27 letter sent to media outlets by a representative, McGowan claims that her partner Rain Dove received text messages from Argento confirming the sexual encounter with Bennett."Rain Dove said that they were going to go to the police with these texts once we were done speaking, no matter what," McGowan says in the statement. "But that they wanted me to be aware of them so that I may be able to take further actions."
Argento has continuously denied having a sexual relationship with Bennett. As reported by USA Today , Argento also contends that the $380,000 hush money payment given to Bennett in 2017 was a decision made by her late boyfriend, Anthony Bourdain, who considered Bennett "dangerous."