Rose McGowan accuses Oscar-winning director Alexander Payne of raping her when she was just 15 in 'bomb of truth' post on Instagram

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Rose McGowan last night accused Oscar-winning director Alexander Payne of 'grooming' her and having sex with her when she was 15.

The actress, now 46, said that 'for years I had thought a man I had sexual relations with was a a sexual experience I had... I now know I was groomed.'  

Payne, who co-wrote and directed the critically acclaimed films 'Citizen Ruth,' 'Election,' 'About Schmidt,' 'Sideways' and 'The Descendants', has yet to comment on the allegations. Payne, now 59, was 28 at the time of the alleged sexual encounters in the late 1980s.

McGowan - a pioneer of the #MeToo movement who was one of the first women to come forward against Harvey Weinstein - said the alleged ordeal led her to quit acting before she returned to Hollywood after being 'discovered' at age 21.   

Earlier on Monday she had named Payne as the 'well-endowed' man who allegedly 'sat me down and played a soft-core porn movie' when she was 15 - an incident she first described in 2018 without identifying Payne. 

'If you are out there trying to have sex with an underage minor, you are committing a crime, even if the minor doesn't know it,' she said last night in a second 'bomb of truth' post on Instagram. 

'I was attracted to him, so I thought it was on me, but that's not correct. I was not an adult.' 

McGowan told Variety 'it was time' to name Payne after telling Ronan Farrow in 2018 she had been the victim of a man who 'picked me up when I was 15 years old'.

Rose McGowan (pictured left) last night accused Hollywood director Alexander Payne (right) of having 'groomed' her when she was 15

McGowan made her allegations against Payne in a second 'bomb of truth' Instagram post on Monday night, having earlier named him on Twitter 

McGowan had made her first allegation on Twitter on Monday morning, asking for an 'acknowledgement and an apology' from the director. 

'Alexander Payne. You sat me down and played a soft-core porn movie you directed for Showtime under a different name,' she said. 

'I still remember your apartment in Silverlake. You are very well-endowed. You left me on a street corner afterwards. I was 15.'

She also tweeted a picture of herself at age 15, saying: 'I just want an acknowledgement and an apology. I do not want to destroy.' 

Last night, McGowan followed up with a longer Instagram post in which she described the alleged 'grooming'.  

'For years I had thought a man I had sexual relations with was a a sexual experience I had. I now know I was groomed,' she said. 

'I auditioned for him at 15. After my experience with him, I quit acting entirely until I was 'discovered' at 21. 

'When that happened, I was like, f*** it, let's do this. I even tweeted a congratulations on his Oscar win in 2012, that's how deep in the Cult of Hollywood I was. 

'It wasn't until three weeks after the Weinstein story broke that I re-evaluated the situation.'

She continued: 'I feel badly about throwing a bomb into someone's life and career, but I guess that's social conditioning.

'I'm more sad than angry. Sad for 15 year-old me. Sad for the adult me that still thought it was a choice I made. 

'Grooming is real. I want you all to know that it's not your fault if you were mentally massaged into thinking it's okay. It is not. I know this now. 

'I would even go up to this director at events and ask him, with a smile, 'remember when you had sex with me at 15?' And I would laugh it off. That is deep societal programming. 

'When it happened, I'd recently been left behind in Hollywood by a family member to fend for myself. The wolves preyed. 

'Please recognize that if this has happened to you, the shame is not yours, it's theirs. Give it back. Groomers are skilled operators and at 15, I was not aware of the warning signs.'

She concluded: 'Goddess bless us all, except for those that abuse their power. Here's to freedom, yours and mine.'   

The actress, 46, took to Twitter on Monday to make allegations that the Oscar-winning director, 59, was 'very well-endowed' and had 'left her on a street corner' after showing her the pornographic material

McGowan then posted a black and white headshot of herself as a teenager, adding: 'I just want an acknowledgement and an apology. I do not want to destroy. This was me at 15.'

Payne and wife Maria Kontos attending a screening in Los Angeles in 2017.

Payne was previously married to Killing Eve star Sandra Oh for two years. The couple separated in 2005

Payne subsequently rose to fame for movies such as Sideways (2004), Election (1999) and About Schmidt (2002). 

It was reported in December last year that Payne was set to direct a remake of Babette’s Feast. It is not known where these allegations leave the project. 

McGowan was an early face of the #MeToo movement in the fall of 2017 after she accused Harvey Weinstein of raping her. 

In January 2018, she gave some details of the Payne allegation - but without identifying the director by name. 

Speaking to Ronan Farrow, she said she had been the victim of a man who 'picked me up when I was 15 years old'. 

'He took he home after he met me and he showed me a soft-porn movie he'd made for Showtime under a different name,' she said at the time. 

'And then he had sex with me and then he left me next to Cafe Tropicale in Silverlake standing on a street corner.' 

McGowan hinted at the time that she would reveal the director's name when she was ready, having previously given the name to Farrow.   

#MeToo movement: McGowan, 46, who was one of the leading activists of the global movement and accused Harvey Weinstein of sexually assaulting her in the 1990s, has now shared that she is 'in a good place' following his conviction (pictured together in 2007) 

Convicted: The disgraced movie mogul, 68, was convicted in March in a landmark #MeToo case that ended with six of his accusers sobbing and hugging each other from the front row of the courtroom (pictured outside court on February 24) 

In May, McGowan said that she is 'in a good place now' that Weinstein is serving a 23-year prison sentence for rape and sexual assault.   

The disgraced movie mogul, 68, was convicted in March in a landmark #MeToo case that ended with six of his accusers sobbing and hugging each other from the front row of the courtroom.  

Weinstein was convicted of raping an aspiring actress in 2013 and forcibly performing oral sex on a TV and film production assistant in 2006.