Non-binary model Rain Dove admits to selling #MeToo texts to tabloid in new confessional
Rain Dove confessing in his video, ‘EXPOSING MYSELF: Sharing Lies & Secrets’ (YouTube)
The non-binary model and LGBT+ activist Rain Dove has published a New Year’s confessional video admitting to several falsehoods about their life.
Among them is the admission that they sold incriminating text messages from Italian actress Asia Argento to tabloid news site TMZ, after they previously denied doing this.
Argento is known for being on the frontlines of the #MeToo movement, as she was among the first people to accuse Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault.
In the text messages to Dove, she appears to admit to a sexual encounter with a 17-year-old in 2013. It is a crime in California for an adult to have sex with a person under 18.
The teen threatened Argento with legal action and she reportedly settled with him for $380,000. Argento later discussed the matter in a series of text messages with Dove, who at the time was dating actress Rose McGowan, another of Harvey Weinstein’s sexual assault victims (Weinstein has denied all allegations).
Dove sent the messages to the police, telling NBC they believed they “had no choice but to go forward, because otherwise I would be complicit.”
TMZ published the story in 2018 including screenshots of the incriminating texts and pictures of Argento in bed with the teen. Dove denied selling the texts, telling Today: “I just wanted them to be a part of the legal process going forward.”
Over a year later, Dove admitted they were the one who leaked them in an hour-long confessional video, “Exposing Myself: Sharing Secrets and Lies,” posted to their YouTube channel on Sunday.
“I got $10,000 from TMZ,” Dove said. “I asked for advice from my closest friends, some of which are very powerful and wonderful people and very connected in the industry, and they said just do it.”
When NBC asked them to explain why they accepted money in exchange for the text messages in which an adult allegedly admitted to sex with a minor, Dove said they did so in case they would “need a lawyer to protect myself” from libel lawsuits.
For her part, Argento has filed a police report against Dove in Italy for fraud and deception. She said the texts were edited by Dove “to make me appear like a predator,” a claim Dove denies, and says she’s still frightened of Dove and “what they are capable of.”
I wanted to create this video to just put everything out on the table, everything that I have done or have said that may not be fair or right or may have hurt people.
It’s not the first time Dove’s truthfulness has been called into question.
Intending to “purge” themselves before the New Year, Dove admitted to several other falsehoods – including their repeated claims that they had a degree in genetic engineering, and that they had once worked as a firefighter.
The closest Dove ever came to being a firefighter was working as a wildfire prevention officer, but this role never involved coming close to flames. They also previously claimed to have volunteered for Paradise Fire Department, but when contacted by NBC the department said they have no record of Dove working there.
“I wanted to create this video to just put everything out on the table, everything that I have done or have said that may not be fair or right or may have hurt people,” Dove said in the video, which they called a “one-stop shop” to finding out the truth.
“I would like to say that’s not the person that I am, but the person I am is who I am because of that part of my life.”
Rain Dove has also been accused of faking a text exchange with a transphobic parent who was outraged that her transgender son wanted a binder for Christmas. Screenshots of the messages went viral, with Dove being praised for their moving and empathetic advice.
A number of people on social media started to question the existence of the mother, whose profile photo was a stock image that could be found when searching “angry old woman” on Google.
Dove offered to provide evidence of the parent’s existence to verified news outlets, but refused multiple requests to do so when interviewed by NBC this week.
NBC was also unable to verify Dove’s previous claims that they had been pepper-sprayed and tasered while using public restrooms due to their androgynous appearance.
PinkNews has reached out to Rain Dove for comment.
