Hollywood producer Jill Messick commits suicide

CAIRO – 9 February 2018: Hollywood studio executive and producer Jill Messick has taken her life in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal. She was 50 years old.
As the former manager of Rose McGowan in 1997, Messick had recently found herself dragged into the on-going Hollywood sexual harassment case after Harvey Weinstein leaked a private email Messick wrote, which he had quoted as means of defending himself.

The email stated that Messick thought that McGowan's relationship with Weinstein was consensual. Messick had gone to work for Miramax, Weinstein's studio, as a production executive, following her work as McGowan's manager, though she suspected something illegal may have occurred but otherwise assumed the matter had been settled.

McGowan had accused her of siding with Weinstein and not supporting her cause.
Messick's family released a statement on February 8th confirming her death, which they called "collateral damage" in the on-going McGowan/Weinstein battle.

They also claimed that McGowan had slandered her good name, sullying her reputation. The statement also added that Messick had been suffering from depression and had only recently sought help before she had been dragged into the affair against her will, which Messick's family claims was far too much for her to bear.

"Jill was victimized by our new culture of unlimited information sharing and a willingness to accept statement as fact," their statement read. "The speed of disseminating information has carried mistruths about Jill as a person, which she was unable and unwilling to challenge. She became collateral damage in an already horrific story."
Messick had worked as a producer for films and Television since 1999.

Amongst the works she produced include, most notably, Tina Fey's "Mean Girls", released in 2004 and starring Lindsey Lohan. She also co-produced Freddie Prinze Jr.’s “She’s All That.”, the biopic "Frida", "Friday","Baby Daddy" and more.

In the statement, Messick's family stated that she was a supporter of the #MeToo movement, and refused to speak out against McGowan's accusations so that the movement's reputation would not be affected. Neither McGowan nor Weinstein have commented on the suicide.