Jill Messick, former manager of Rose McGowan, commits suicide

Feb. 9 (UPI) -- Jill Messick, a Hollywood producer and former manager of Rose McGowan, committed suicide at the age of 50, her family announced Thursday.

Messick executive-produced several films including Baby Mama, Mean Girls, Hot Rod and She's All That.

M Night Shymalan told Deadline that Messick fought to get his second film, Wide Awake, made at Miramax and Tina Fey said she was "instrumental in helping Mean Girls get to the screen."

"She was a fiercely dedicated producer and a kind person," Fey said.

Messick had been a behind the scenes player in the film industry for years but was thrust into the spotlight when McGowan accused Harvey Weinstein of sexual misconduct in 1997. Messick was McGowan's manager at the time and the actress said Messick arranged the meeting at which Weinstein allegedly sexually assaulted McGowan.

Messick had not spoken publicly about McGowan's accusations against Weinstein, but her family released a statement Thursday that says Messick has suffered from depression and bipolar disorder and the recent attention surrounding the McGowan-Weinstein situation with her name attached to the scandal made her "collateral damage in an already horrific story."

Jill Messick was a mother of two children, a loving wife and partner, a dear friend to many and a smart entertainment executive. She was also a survivor, privately battling depression, which had been her nemesis for years," the statement says, according to the Hollywood Reporter. "Today she did not survive. Jill took her own life. Jill was victimized by our new culture of unlimited information sharing and a willingness to accept statement as fact. The speed of disseminating information has carried mistruths about Jill as a person, which she was unable and unwilling to challenge."

The statement goes to give Messick's version of events from the night McGowan met Weinstein in 1997:

"Following the meeting, Rose told Jill what had happened -- that she made the decision to remove her clothes and get in the hot tub with him -- a mistake which Rose immediately regretted. Rose never once used the word rape in that conversation," the statement says.

The family goes on to say that Messick told her superiors at the management company about McGowan's concerns over the meeting with Weinstein " to insist that they immediately address the situation," which they said they would.

"The ensuing arrangements between Rose and Harvey were then negotiated, completely without Jill's knowledge," the statement says. "At that time, all Jill knew was that the matter was settled and that Rose continued making films with the Weinsteins. She never knew any details until recently, when Rose elected to make them public."