LOS ANGELES (AP) — A woman testified Monday that Harvey Weinstein sexually assaulted her in a hotel room during…
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A woman gave it Monday Harvey Weinstein sexually assaulted her in a hotel room during the Toronto Film Festival in 1991, then did it again when she went to confront him in the same hotel during the same festival 17 years later.
Testifying at Weinstein’s trial in Los Angeles, she said she was a 24-year-old aspiring actress at the 1991 festival and didn’t know who Weinstein was before meeting him at a party. She said her friends there were buzzing about the man whose Miramax company was at the forefront of independent filmmaking and made his mark on the Academy Awards.
She said she was initially charmed by Weinstein when they discussed books and movies.
“We got along really well,” she said. “He was very smart. We had a wonderful conversation.”
She said the two of them left the party for a glass of wine at a nearby cafe and then went with him to his room at the Four Seasons Hotel because he said he had a script for a movie with a role that would be perfect for him.
Once there, she said he went into the bathroom and came out with nothing but an open shirt and a hot washcloth.
“Everything happened very, very quickly,” she said. “I was shocked. It was so unexpected.”
She said he pulled down her skirt, put a washcloth on her and said “my wife loves it”.
She revealed she felt “nauseated, scared and terrified” and repeatedly told him “no” and asked “what are you doing?”
She said he held her down and raped her with his mouth and hand. He then climbed on top of her and started raping her, but she was able to slip away and leave the room.
already serving 23 years in prison In New York, Weinstein, 70, pleaded not guilty to 11 counts of raping and sexually assaulting five women in Los Angeles and denied engaging in nonconsensual sex.
He is not charged in the alleged assaults described in Monday’s testimony. The woman, along with three others, has been allowed to testify so prosecutors can try to show Weinstein’s propensity for the crimes he is accused of.
The woman testified that she did not see Weinstein until 2008, when she was 41 and living temporarily at the Four Seasons with her husband and children. She bumped into Weinstein in the lobby during that year’s festival.
“My blood kind of stopped,” she said. “I was very angry.”
When Weinstein’s assistant came to her room to say he wanted to meet with her, she agreed.
“I wanted to stand up to him,” she said. “I felt like I was ready to give it to him.”
Once in his room, she remembered asking, “What’s it like to be in front of the one woman who said no to you?”
Weinstein then ushered his assistant out of the room and quickly directed her to the door. She said before she knew it, she was in a locked bathroom with Weinstein, where he was blocking her exit.
She said Weinstein grabbed her breasts and masturbated in front of her before letting her leave the room.
The woman said she didn’t tell anyone about the second attack for years because of “sheer embarrassment” that it had happened again.
“I was shocked,” she said. “So embarrassing, just so embarrassing.”
She remained calm and composed as she gave evidence, but broke down in tears when asked how the two attacks had affected her, saying “it’s so many layers”.
The first, she says, turned her away from acting.
“I never wanted to go through something like that again,” she said.
The other had important personal items.
“It hurt my marriage because I didn’t tell him,” she said. “It was very difficult.”
Her testimony appears to be the first time she has told her story in a public setting.
Like similar witnesses in this and other trials, she initially told her story quickly and in plain language, but was asked to double down and provide clearer and more complex details.
Weinstein’s lawyers were scheduled to cross-examine her Tuesday afternoon.
The Associated Press typically does not release the names of people who say they have been sexually assaulted.
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Follow AP Entertainment writer Andrew Dalton on Twitter: twitter.com/andyjamesdalton
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