Late Star Wars actress Carrie Fisher reportedly "personally delivered" a cow's tongue in a Tiffany's box to a sleazy Hollywood producer after hearing that he forced himself onto her friend.
Actress Carrie Fisher speaks onstage during Wizard World Comic Con Chicago 2016. She died in December that year. Photo: AFP
Screenwriter Heather Ross claimed the act of retribution happened two weeks after a "high-profile, Oscar-winning" producer forced himself on her in 2000.
Ross said she met him online in an AOL chat room, and felt safe to meet up in person to discuss a project because she was "overweight" and had no desire to become an actress.
Within two minutes of picking her up for dinner however, the producer pulled the car over and used one hand to push her seat back and the other to hold her down while he forced himself on top of her, she said.
"All of that happened and then he said 'you'll never make a movie in my town' and 'get the f*** out of my car'," she told US radio station 94.9 MIXfm.
After she spoke about the incident with Fisher, who had been a "dear friend" for many years after meeting online, Ross said the actress took things into her own hands.
"Two weeks later she sent me a message online and said, 'I just saw [the producer] at Sony Studios. I knew he would probably be there, so I went to his office and personally delivered a Tiffany box wrapped with a white bow'," Ross said.
"I asked her what was inside and she said it was a cow tongue from Jerry's Famous Deli in Westwood with a note that said, 'if you ever touch my darling Heather or any other woman again, the next delivery will be something of yours in a much smaller box!'"
Ross opened up about the incident in the wake of the #MeToo campaign, in which women who have faced sexual abuse and harassment have spoken out to highlight how prevalent it is.
The hashtag started after investigations by The New York Times and The New Yorker into producer Harvey Weinstein exposed a long history of settling sexual misconduct claims, raising more questions about behaviour in Hollywood.
Ross said she stayed quiet about the 2000 incident for years because she "didn't want the retribution".
"It happens all the time," she said. "People are feeling safe now to come forward."
Fisher, an actress who rose to fame as Princess Leia in the Star Wars films, died in December aged 60.
"I miss her dearly. She stood up for people," Ross said.