Harvey Weinstein’s Second Sex Abuse Trial Has Revealed Further Horrific Allegations

“I was panicking and started crying… He didn’t care,” one accuser, who goes by Jane Doe 1, told the court.

By Audra Heinrichs | October 31, 2022 | 10:32pm

Justice Politics

Harvey Weinstein’s Second Sex Abuse Trial Has Revealed Further Horrific Allegations

Photo:Etienne Laurent-Pool (Getty Images)

Harvey Weinstein’s sex abuse trial in Los Angeles has just begun its third week, and, so far in the proceedings, three women have leveled revolting claims against the disgraced Hollywood producer. Five additional women are expected to testify in the coming weeks. And, as in Weinstein’s New York City trial, the court has already been told about his “deformed genitals.”

The first woman who testified, identified as Jane Doe 1, told the court she was a model and actor when she briefly met Weinstein in Rome. Some time later, during a 2013 film festival in Los Angeles, Weinstein showed up unexpectedly at her hotel room door and forced his way in. “He just walked in,” she said. “I was really confused. I didn’t understand what was going on… I remember thinking, ‘Did he follow me?’ I don’t know him.” She then alleged that, despite her repeated pleas that he leave her room, Weinstein lingered, removed his jacket and asked for a massage. In what she described as another desperate attempt to get Weinstein to leave her room, she began showing him pictures of her three children on her phone, reminding him that she’s a mother. Instead, she said that he became even more physical and attempted to take off her robe. He also opened his pants and began touching himself. “I was panicking and started crying… He didn’t care,” she told the court. Ultimately, he forced her to perform oral sex. “He had a problem with his erection,” she told the jurors, “and said to suck him and suck his balls.”

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“He forced me to do what he asked…I was crying, choking,” she continued. “His eyes changed. His behavior changed… I was physically afraid of him,” she said, specifically recalling how much bigger he was than her. “He was giving me orders… I was crying repeatedly, saying, ‘No, no, no, no.’”

Doe said she froze as Weinstein then brought her into the hotel room’s bathroom and began to violently rape her. She told the court that he instructed her to look in the mirror. “He put the fingers inside of me — my private part,” Doe said. “I was moving and didn’t let him. He held me and he tried to get inside of me with his penis, but I was moving and crying and I said no.” She remembered Weinstein making “nasty” comments like, “C’mon, you’re not a little girl. Tell me you like it.”

“I wanted to die. It was disgusting. It was humiliating,” she said. Under cross-examination later that week, she broke down recalling some of the details of the assault and its aftermath. “I want to apologize for my breakdown yesterday,” Doe told the jury the following morning. “Unfortunately, I cannot control this.”

Ashley M., another witness, was the next woman to testify. Ashley M. was a 22-year-old dancer on the Weinstein-backed Dirty Dancing sequel when she told the court that Weinstein allegedly visited the set, pulled her aside, and propositioned her for a nude massage. Ashley M. confided in the choreographer and another producer about the exchange, but they didn’t offer much help. She encountered Weinstein again when he invited her for a meeting about potential projects. Ashely M. recalled that she attended only because his assistant promised to be present the entire time. Of course, that was not the case.

Once inside his room, she alleged that Weinstein’s assistant “shut the door behind us,” and Weinstein forced Ashley onto the bed, straddled her and masturbated onto her face while she pleaded with him to stop.

A third witness, Kelly S., told the court that Weinstein “derailed” her career when he assaulted her in 1991 when she was 24. After meeting at Toronto International Film Festival party, Weinstein allegedly called her to discuss a script at a hotel. Upon arriving at the room, Kelly S. alleged that Weinstein swiftly emerged from the bathroom, naked apart from an unbuttoned shirt, and holding a hot cloth. “It all happened fast,” Kelly S. testified. She said Weinstein forcibly removed her skirt and placed the cloth on her vagina. “My wife loves this. You’re going to love this,” she recalled him saying. “You have to understand how frozen I was,” Kelly S. continued. “It was so out of nowhere. It was unexpected.” She alleged that Weinstein then penetrated her for “a few seconds” before she was able to push him off of her.

She testified that, in 2008, she saw Weinstein for the first time since the assault. He once again propositioned her for sex in a locked bathroom, as she was trying to confront him about the 1991 assault. According to Kelly S., Weinstein suddenly “pulled his penis out and started masturbating.” She told the court, “He wanted to see my breasts while he was masturbating,” so “it became a negotiation” as Kelly S. was trying to end the exchange but physically couldn’t leave the bathroom. “There was no way I could get around him. He was much larger.” Eventually, Weinstein ejaculated and let her leave, she said. Cross examination of Kelly S.’s account is expected to begin later this week.

Apparently, the man himself can’t stop staring at jury members. And after the She Said trailer premiered last week, the judge instructed jurors to refrain from watching it, given that the film’s plot revolves around the two New York Times reporters who first uncovered Weinstein’s pattern of sexual assault. Personally, I think they’re learning quite enough as it is.