Updated October 18, 2017 14:32:54

Photo: Carrie Fisher "personally delivered" a cow's tongue to a sleazy Hollywood producer, a friend of hers claimed. (ABC Open/Reuters)

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 a friend.

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 said she felt safe to meet up in person to discuss a project because she was "overweight" and had no desire to become an actress.

But within two minutes of picking up Ross for dinner, 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.

There's a generation of Hollywood powerbrokers who've acted like it's still the Stone Age, and as Cameron William writes, it looks like they're no longer going to get away with it.

"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!'"

Photo: Carrie Fisher "stood up for people" in Hollywood, Heather Ross said. (Reuters: Mario Anzuoni)

Ross opened up about the incident in the wake of the #MeToo campaign, which has seen women using the hashtag to highlight how prevalent sexual abuse 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 last December aged 60.

"I miss her dearly. She stood up for people," Ross said.

Topics: law-crime-and-justice, sexual-offences, arts-and-entertainment, film-movies, actor, united-states

First posted October 18, 2017 11:38:30