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Disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein is battling bone marrow cancer behind bars at Rikers Island in New York, according to reports.
Weinstein was specifically diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukemia, NBC News reported. It is a rare type of cancer where “the bone marrow makes too many white blood cells” and it usually occurs “during or after middle age,” according to the National Cancer Institute.
A slow-growing type of leukemia, it can also turn acute if it is not treated quickly with targeted therapy.
No further details regarding Weinstein’s condition nor his prognosis were provided. When asked for comment on the matter, his legal health care representative Craig Rothfeld did not offer any insight and instead slammed the speculation swirling around the ex-producer’s health.
“It is both troubling and unacceptable that such private and confidential health matters have become a subject of public discourse,” he said in a statement. “Out of respect for Mr. Weinstein’s privacy, we will offer no further comment.”
Weinstein’s longtime spokesperson, Juda Engelmayer, also declined to comment on the matter.
Weinstein’s diagnosis is only the latest health issue he’s faced since he was arrested on rape and sexual assault charges some six years ago. In July, the “Pulp Fiction” executive producer was hospitalized with COVID-19 and double pneumonia. He recovered at the Bellevue Hospital Prison Ward, where he was also treated for “diabetes, high blood pressure, spinal stenosis, fluid on his heart and lungs, and various other conditions,” Rothfeld said in a statement at the time.
Then, on Sept. 19, Weinstein was again rushed to Bellevue for emergency heart surgery. He was briefly listed in critical condition before he eventually recovered. One week after his release, he entered a not guilty plea to one count of a criminal sex act in the first degree, based on the allegations of a woman who said he sexually assaulted her in 2006 at a Manhattan hotel.
Once a pillar of Hollywood, Weinstein was found guilty of first-degree criminal sexual act and third-degree rape in February 2020 and sentenced to 23 years in prison. He was formally charged in May 2018, after he was accused of sexual misconduct by scores of women at the peak of the #MeToo movement.
The New York Court of Appeals has since overturned the conviction, though Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has decided to retry the case.
Weinstein is also appealing a separate 2022 conviction from prison for three sexual assault charges. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison for that case.
