Asia Argento Accuses The Fast and The Furious Director of Sexual Assault

The Fast and The Furious director Rob Cohen has been accused of sexual assault again, this time by Italian actress and director Asia Argento. In a new interview with Italian newspaper Il Corriere della Sera and several other outlets (via Variety), Argento alleges that the alleged assault took place while she was filming xXx, the 2002 action film directed by Cohen that also starred Vin Diesel and Samuel L. Jackson. Argento also makes the allegations in her upcoming autobiography, “Anatomy of a Wild Heart”.

“It’s the first time I’m talking about Cohen,” Argento told Corriere. “He abused me, making me drink GHB, he had a bottle of it. At the time, I really didn’t know what it was. I woke up in the morning naked in his bed.”

In an appearance on the Italian talk show Verissimo, Argento explained that she wasn’t initially aware of what GHB was — it is a fast-acting sedative commonly referred to as the “date rape” drug — and that was coming forward now that other women have also accused Cohen of sexual misconduct.

In 2019, a woman identified only as Jane alleged that Cohen had invited her to a business meeting to discuss a television pilot and that, during the meeting, Cohen offered her a drink then later moved the meeting to a restaurant by his hotel and encouraged her to drink more. Per that report, first shared in HuffPost, Jane alleges she woke up in Cohen’s hotel room while he was assaulting her. Cohen’s daughter, Valkyrie Weather, has also made allegations against Cohen, accusing the director of molesting her as a child and taking her to visit sex workers on overseas shooting locations when Weather was a teen. The allegations were reportedly brought up during divorce proceedings by Weather’s mother.

Per Variety, a representative for Cohen denies Argento’s allegations. Cohen has previously denied the other allegations as well.

“I have never assaulted, raped, drugged, or molested anyone. I have never belonged to any cigar club and certainly was never there with ‘Jane’. (Out of restraint, I won’t reveal her real name),” Cohen told Deadline in 2019.

He went on to refer to his daughter’s allegations, adding “I hope and pray that the thousands of people who know me, worked with me, and/or are simply fair-minded people will see that this is an untrue and unsubstantiated story, which is out there due to a hateful daughter and a mother/ ex-wife.”

Photos: Stefania D’Alessandro/WireImage, Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic