Zelda Perkins rejects claim MeToo led to rise of Andrew Tate as she calls on Government to ban misuse of NDAs

9 May 2025, 19:45

A former assistant to Harvey Weinstein who played a central role in exposing him has rejected suggestions the MeToo movement led to a rise in the so-called “manosphere.”

Zelda Perkins, who in 2017 became the first woman to break a Weinstein-related NDA signed years prior, has called on the government to act on the misuse of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) to silence victims of sexual abuse.

While speaking, Ms Perkins was pressed on the rise of misogynist influencers like Andrew Tate, rejecting the suggestion MeToo led to their increase in popularity.

She told LBC's Aggie Chambre: “There's obviously something to that, but I don't think it's caused by MeToo.

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“I think the difficulty with MeToo is it opened this huge Pandora's box which made men unbelievably uncomfortable.

“It's not that they weren't included in the conversation, but I think it was just there were so many women who had not been able to speak before, and there was such a sort of tsunami of horrifying information that was very hard to.

“That was very hard to process. And when you challenge the status quo, things do get complicated. I think for me, personally, I found a lot of the dialogue in MeToo uncomfortable as well, because it doesn't necessarily talk about grey areas. And actually being. Being more divisive between genders, men and women, is not going to help the issu

“Actually, what should have come out of MeToo was that it's like when you have a really big row, you've said all the bad stuff, then you give each other a kiss and go, okay, now we work it out.

“What we haven't done is had a kiss and worked it out, which is a really weird analogy to take this down, but do you think there'll be.”

Ms Perkins rejected the suggestion the MeToo movement “failed.”

She added: “Of course it didn't fail. That information can't be put away again.

“And I think like all big movements, social, cultural movements, you know, the pendulum swings very far one way, then it swings very far the other way, and then eventually it comes and settles back down in the middle.

“This is just part of progress, and we're just on that backswing at the moment. And I believe, actually, the rise of Andrew Tate and Trump being voted in is going to help that pendulum sit back in the centre much more.”

Ms Perkins’ comments come as former transport minister Louise Haigh continued to put pressure on the government to increase pressure on those using NDAs to silence victims.

This week, the pair delivered a petition to Downing Street, calling on Labour to ban the misuse of NDAs.

Ms Haigh said: “We want the government to ban the misuse of NDAs.

“NDAs are a perfectly legitimate tool when they are used to protect trade secrets and intellectual property. But they have become prolific, particularly in industries that are full of low-income workers like retail and hospitality, to silence victims of sexual harassment and abuse.

“Other countries have led the way on this. Ireland's recently legislated on it. 27 states in the US have legislated on it, and the UK is now really falling behind in this basic protection. So we want to see the government ban their misuse in cases of harassment and discrimination.”

Ms Perkins highlighted the ways NDAs have been used in the past to silence victims of sexual abuse.

She said: “I've seen NDAs used by councils to silence people about child abuse. I've seen NDAs used to silence customers who have been on holiday and something terrible has happened and the travel company has used this to silence them.

“I see journalists constantly being silenced by NDAs. It's in every sector. I think what's interesting is that we've got three years of data, but we did a snap survey over the last three weeks which pretty much aligns with our longer-term data, which shows it's about one in three people have signed an NDA, which is pretty extraordinary.

“And what's come up from this recent survey, which we did with Organise, which is a workers campaign group, that charity, education and healthcare were actually kind of the leading sectors in this specific survey coming up.

“And I think people in those arenas don't think of themselves as so vulnerable. Hospitality is another huge one. And I think what Louise and I are really trying to draw attention to is this isn't a high-profile movie star, movie producer, TV star, you know, finance guru area.

“Actually, people in low incomes are far more vulnerable. They also get minuscule, minimal settlements.

“We're talking about settlements of hundreds of people pounds, not £250,000. And when you're in a low income position where you know, you are much more hand to mouth and you have less access to justice and you're more vulnerable to power abuse, There has to be more equity and equality in the bargaining power and protection for victims.”

Employment Minister Justin Madders said last month in the House of Commons: "NDAs should never be used to silence victims of harassment or any other misconduct in the workplace.

“Nevertheless, we hear the calls to go further, and the issues raised today highlight some of the key areas that we want to further investigate.

“It is clear that there are still serious concerns about how employers are using NDAs to silence employees.

“We have heard today that victims often feel that they are left with little choice but to leave their employer, without any assurance that their employer is addressing the misconduct and dealing with the perpetrator."