Actress Jennifer Lawrence has spoken out about her relationship with Harvey Weinstein, saying the disgraced Hollywood mogul acted like a father figure to her.

In an interview with Oprah Winfrey for The Hollywood Reporter, Lawrence explained that she had known Weinstein since she was 20 and that he had “only ever been nice to me – except for the moments that he wasn’t, and then I called him an a-hole, and we moved on”.

She added: “He was paternal to me.

So I needed a moment to process everything because I thought I knew this guy, and then he’s being accused of rape.” However, Lawrence stated that she had not known about Weinstein’s alleged s**ual assaults before they were reported in the press.

Lawrence won an Oscar for the Weinstein-produced film Silver Linings Playbook.

After allegations against Weinstein were made public last year, Lawrence commented that she had never experienced harassment from him.

Speaking now, she said that she and other actors had initially been silent but were later pressured to make statements.

“We’ve all worked with him, but everybody needed a moment,” she said.

The actress described herself as feeling “sick in my bones” after hearing an audio recording of Weinstein trying to persuade model Ambra Battilana Gutierrez to watch him shower in a hotel room.

“They are all horrible, and not one is more horrifying than the next”, Lawrence observed.

Weinstein has been accused of s**ual misconduct by more than 50 women.

His lawyers have denied that he ever committed an act of s**ual assault.

Lawrence has previously spoken out about experiencing inappropriate behaviour on film sets.

In her latest interview, she called for the establishment of a commission to tackle such behaviour.

“How can there be rules in place where there are certain ways that you just cannot treat people? Or a commission, somebody that they can call? If every A-list actor decides to join this commission, we know everybody in the industry,” she said.

Lawrence said that she had been asked to lose 15 pounds for a role and had been subjected to a “n^ked lineup” with other actresses in which they were all judged on their bodies.

She commented: “There’s not really anything anybody can do because the behaviour is so normalised, and then you become more powerful, and people start f—king with you less.”

Lawrence added that she believed that “everybody needs to heal” following the Weinstein scandal.

“We have to all put our heads together and figure out how to not let this moment go, not just be like, ‘Oh, well, that was crazy.’ Something has to really get done,” she said.

The actress also revealed in the interview that she had become “incredibly rude” to fans who failed to respect her privacy.

She commented: “I’m trying to keep my career as live as possible, but I’m also trying to learn to protect myself.

If I’m eating dinner and somebody comes up and a flash goes off from someone’s iPhone camera, I am really rude to that person.”

Last year, Lawrence was one of a number of celebrities whose n^de photos were leaked online.

She has since described the incident as a “s** crime”.