Part of Kate’s statement: pic.twitter.com/UKVkeErtK3
— Laura Kramer (@Laura_Kramer) January 28, 2018
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Kate Winslet is expressing regret for some of the choices she’s made over the course of her career.
The Oscar winner, 42, most recently starred in Woody Allen‘s last movie Wonder Wheel. When previously asked about the controversy surrounding the director, Winslet chose to side-step the questions. Allen, 82, been repeatedly accused by his daughter Dylan Farrow of child molestation.
In a carefully worded acceptance speech at the London Critics’ Circle awards on Sunday, the actress never mentioned either Allen or frequent collaborator Harvey Weinstein by name, but emotionally expressed regret about some of the people she has chosen to work with.
“I wouldn’t be able to stand here this evening, and keep to myself some bitter regrets that I have at poor decisions to work with individuals with whom I wish I had not,” Winslet said with a shaky voice before asking for a second to turn around and collect herself.
She continued after a brief moment, “It has become clear to me that by not saying anything, I might be adding to the anguish of many courageous women and men. Sexual abuse is a crime. While it rests with the rule of law to pass judgment, it lies with all of us to listen to the smallest of voices and to never stop listening.”
The actress also encouraged other people in positions of power to speak up while asking others not to place blame or importance on who chooses to come forward.
“Those who do have a voice are becoming afraid to say anything, because of intense scrutiny and criticism,” she continued. “Nobody should be exempt from having a right to speak in support of vulnerable people. There are those who can speak so powerfully for those who are not able to do so themselves, and let us please not make this about which people express public regret.”
WATCH: Dylan Farrow Asks Why Woody Allen Has Been Spared After Harvey Weinstein Scandal
While she never denounced Allen, Winslet has spoken out against Weinstein in the past and said that she didn’t name the movie mogul in her 2009 Oscar acceptance speech for a reason. Winslet won that year for The Reader, a Weinstein-produced film.
“The way Harvey Weinstein has treated these vulnerable, talented young women is NOT the way women should ever EVER deem to be acceptable or commonplace in ANY workplace,” Winslet said in a statement after allegations against Weinstein began to surface. The mogul has since been accused by over 60 women of varying forms of sexual misconduct, abuse and assault.
A spokesperson for Weinstein previously told PEOPLE in a statement that “any allegations of non-consensual sex are unequivocally denied by Mr. Weinstein. Mr. Weinstein has further confirmed that there were never any acts of retaliation against any women for refusing his advances.”
Allen has repeatedly denied the allegations and has suggested instead that his ex-partner Mia Farrow taught their daughter to say that in order to win an ugly custody battle between the two.
“When this claim was first made more than 25 years ago, it was thoroughly investigated by both the Child Sexual Abuse Clinic of the Yale-New Haven Hospital and New York State Child Welfare. They both did so for many months and independently concluded that no molestation had ever taken place,” the director previously said in a statement. “Instead, they found it likely a vulnerable child had been coached to tell the story by her angry mother during a contentious breakup.”
In the wake of the sexual harassment scandals that have rocked Hollywood, several celebrities who worked with Allen in the past have recently denounced the director. Recent Golden Globe winner Rachel Brosnahan expressed regret over working with Allen on his 2016 Amazon series Crisis in Six Scenes, while Colin Firth vowed to never work with the director again.