Jessica Mann had moved to Los Angeles from a dairy farm in Washington State to pursue acting when she met the Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein at a party. Mr. Weinstein quickly took an interest in Ms. Mann, meeting with her several times to discuss her career.
Having come from a highly religious family, she thought at first his interest in her was a “blessing” from God. But soon, she testified at Mr. Weinstein’s trial on Friday, he began pressuring her for sex.
It started with a request for a massage. Then he forced oral sex on her during another meeting that she thought was to discuss a movie role. She faked an orgasm, she said, “to get out of it.”
Weeks later, Ms. Mann said the influential producer raped her in a Midtown Manhattan hotel after injecting his penis with erection medication. She said he physically blocked her from leaving the room and forced her to undress. “I was very angry inside and very scared,” she said. “I gave up at that point”
Ms. Mann, 34, who is now a hair stylist, described in graphic detail her often tortured and “extremely degrading” relationship with Mr. Weinstein.
Mr. Weinstein, who had become a titan in the independent movie industry with Oscar-winning films like “Shakespeare in Love,” had manipulated her from the start, she said, by dangling the possibility of work, but then coerced her into an ongoing sexual relationship.
Ms. Mann had had sexual encounters with him that were not forced before the alleged attack, she said, even though she maintained she was not physically attracted to him.
Mr. Weinstein’s lawyers have argued Ms. Mann had a consensual relationship with the producer that lasted for years after the alleged assault and benefited her professionally. They have pointed to dozens of friendly emails Ms. Mann sent to Mr. Weinstein expressing affection and love for him.
In legal terms, rape can — and often does — occur within consensual relationships, such as an abusive marriage. Some victims choose — or are forced by circumstances — to maintain outwardly friendly relationships with their attackers.
Ms. Mann is the fifth accuser to take the witness stand against Mr. Weinstein in the State Supreme Court in Manhattan. He is charged with first and third-degree rape, and predatory sexual assault in connection with his one of his encounters with Ms. Mann in 2013.
A total of six women have agreed to testify that Mr. Weinstein assaulted them. The trial was one of the most highly anticipated proceedings in recent memory, seen by many as an important moment in the #MeToo movement, which was set in motion in October 2017, when, after years of whispers, several women went public with their allegations that Mr. Weinstein had sexually harassed or assaulted them.
In all, prosecutors have charged Mr. Weinstein, 67, with five felony counts, including two counts of predatory sexual assault, which requires prosecutors to show he committed a serious sexual crime against at least two people and carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.
He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Ms. Mann said she met Mr. Weinstein at a party in either 2012 or 2013.
He took her to a bookstore on Sunset Boulevard where he bought her four books, telling her it was important to understand film history if she wanted to be an actress.
Over the next several weeks, they met again including a dinner at an Italian restaurant with his assistant where Mr. Weinstein said he wanted to “plug” Ms. Mann “into his system.”
They met again at a bar at the Peninsula Beverly Hills hotel where the producer suddenly showed great interest in Ms. Mann’s personal life, upbringing and the amount of money her father made, she said, telling Mr. Weinstein she had grown up poor in a trailer park.
After other guests at the bar recognized Mr. Weinstein, he became irritated and suggested they continue the conversation in his hotel suite where he asked her to give him a massage. Mr. Weinstein, she said, had “a lot, a lot of blackheads” on his back.
Within the month, they met again at the Montage Hotel in Beverly Hills where she said Mr. Weinstein told her she reminded him of his wife because she was clumsy.
At that meeting, the producer told Ms. Mann and her friend that they would make “perfect leads” in the film, “Vampire Academy.” He invited them to his hotel suite to review the scripts, but when Ms. Mann expressed concern, he said, “I am a harmless, old man.”
Once in the suite, Ms. Mann said, Mr. Weinstein separated her from her friend, pulled her into a bedroom, shut the door, told her to get on the bed and performed oral sex on her.
“The more I fought, the angrier he got,” she said.
After that encounter with Mr. Weinstein, Ms. Mann said she decided to “be in a relationship” with him. But, she said, “it would be him wanting to see me and just needing a fix like a drug addict.”
Ms. Mann, describing the first time she had seen Mr. Weinstein naked, she said his genitals appeared to be deformed and scarred. She also said his body had a foul smell. Mr. Weinstein, seated at the defense table, reacted with frustration after the remark.
She said the producer behaved one way in public and then differently in private. “It was like Jekyl and Hyde,” Ms. Mann said. “He could be the most charming, informative person, lift you up to anyone he introduced you to, but behind closed doors it would be dependent upon if I gave him what he wanted.”
Acknowledging that her relationship with the producer was complex and confusing, Ms. Mann said, “his approval would have meant so much to me.”
She said she tried to end the relationship, but she stayed in contact with Mr. Weinstein partly because she worried he might hurt her more. He had also bragged to her about his connections to powerful people, including former president Bill Clinton.
On March 18, 2013, Ms. Mann asked Mr. Weinstein to a breakfast meeting with her and two friends in Manhattan, she said. The producer showed up early and checked into the hotel.
Ms. Mann began questioning Mr. Weinstein about why he had a room in the hotel, since he had an apartment in Manhattan. He warned her not to embarrass him. They continued the conversation in his hotel room where Mr. Weinstein demanded she take off her clothes, she said. She protested. He shut the door to the room and blocked her from leaving.
Mr. Weinstein disappeared into the bathroom for a moment and returned with an erection and raped her. “That’s when he put himself inside of me,” Ms. Mann said, crying.
So far, four women have testified that Mr. Weinstein sexually assaulted them.
Mr. Weinstein’s lawyers are expected to try to undermine Ms. Mann’s account during cross-examination by pointing to a trove of emails that suggest the encounters were all consensual.
“The evidence will show the complaining witnesses sent dozens and dozens of loving emails to Harvey Weinstein,” Damon Cheronis, one of Mr. Weinstein’s lawyers, said at a previous hearing.
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January 31, 2020 at 07:17AM
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‘I Gave Up’: Former Actress Testifies in Graphic Detail How Weinstein Raped Her - The New York Times
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