Lysette Anthony has alleged she was raped twice by Harvey Weinstein

British TV actress Lysette Anthony has alleged she was raped twice by Harvey Weinstein.

The 56-year-old star - who is best known for starring in British soap ‘Hollyoaks’ - has accused the disgraced producer of sexual assault and rape, dating back to the 1980s when she alleges he turned up to her house.

Speaking about the first time she met Weinstein when she was around 18, she said: “I was sent out on my own to do a big press launch that’s when I was made to go and have dinner with Harvey Weinstein. Harvey at that point was a rock journalist; I was literally handed over in the lobby and told you have to have dinner with this man. He talked and talked and talked and told me he wanted to get into the film industry."

Lysette says she and Weinstein - who has been accused of sexual misconduct by dozens of women, but denies the allegations - became friends over the next year, but things took a turn when he allegedly turned up at her home and forced himself upon her.

The actress claimed: “I have this memory of one morning in my little basement flat suddenly seeing this fat lump of a man stumbling down my steep little steps.

“He knocked on the door it was in the morning I only had a gown on he pushed me against my coat rack and he raped me. He was heavy and fat and I was trying to get him off and [I was] giving up. And that’s that bit.”

Lysette also alleges Weinstein raped her again in her hotel room during Cannes Film Festival.

She added: “I remember bumping into him and him literally waddling after me and pushing me into my little room ... and raping me.”

The star says she kept quiet about her experience because of the “shame” she felt, and believes the other women who have accused Weinstein feel the same.

She explained: “I’ve never ever spoken of this because the shame. I’ve thought about this a lot I think there’s a type with all these 80 plus women.

“We are all nice middle class girls. We’re taught we are in control. Mother superiors saying you hold the reigns.

“This isn’t about sex; this is about domination and control. This is a man who if he wanted to have he could’ve bought anything even by that point.

“He could’ve had women who would’ve gladly done anything. Other than the one thing that is quite tricky, especially as you get more famous, is to find someone who is frightened of you.

“I went from being a very beautiful sweet thing and I got fatter and I used food to shove it down because that’s when it started, it was a horror. It wouldn’t leave me alone."

Lysette also feared losing her career if she came forward, because it would mean she’d lose her home.

In an interview with Channel 4 News, she said: “But you know, again, what is anyone going to say if some aspiring actress is going to accuse someone in position of ability to change their world.

“It must be her fault. Poor fat Harvey with these lovely girls he was throwing himself at.

“I was frightened of what he would do to me. I thought if I didn’t have a career I would’ve lost my flat.

“Basically being some sort of slave. I have nothing to show for it. Clearly this was not a joyous communion – I wasn’t his ‘lover’.

“I was this person who he absolutely he could guarantee was so filled with self-disgusted and rigid literally this is sexy, rigid.

"And if I kept very still it would be over quick and he would leave me alone for another half a year.”