Jessica Mann, the third and final accuser to testify in Harvey Weinstein‘s New York retrial, returned to the stand on Tuesday to detail an alleged rape that she said occurred nine months after the charges he now faces.
Mann began her testimony Monday about what had begun as a consensual relationship with the former Hollywood producer that later turned into sexual assault. She recalled that Weinstein would, at times, “validate me so much,” but when he was told no, “the monster side would come out,” the Associated Press reported. Now a cosmetologist and hair stylist, she said she met Weinstein at a party in late 2012 or early 2013, when she was in her 20s and had recently moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career. Mann said she and Weinstein, who took an interest in her career ambitions, had several follow-up meetings to discuss professional matters. However, she alleged that Weinstein pushed boundaries, including requesting a massage, which she said she reluctantly provided.
By late 2013, Mann was in a serious relationship with another man and wanted to end her arrangement with Weinstein, though he refused to cooperate. She testified that once Weinstein found out that Mann’s boyfriend was an actor, “he went into a rage” and allegedly raped her.
“It happened so fast and so forceful,” she said, while beginning to cry on the stand. “He dragged me into the bedroom and threw me on the bed and said I owed him one more time. I said, ‘Please don’t.’ I was begging him because I didn’t want to have sex with him. He commanded me do it. He came at me with his hands at my pants and he ripped them down so fast. His nails left scratch marks on my legs. He yelled at me to take off my clothes. I went into shock and scooted back on the bed by the headboard and froze. He walked into the bathroom and I said to myself to run and I couldn’t move my body. He came back out and grabbed my ankle and pulled me down really hard and fast, and he started to rape me. At some point I remember his weight on me, and it was so much. And my head was stuck and I couldn’t breathe. Everything was black and I don’t remember anything. When I came to, I was on the floor on my knees and his penis was in my mouth. I didn’t know what was going on. I crawled to the bathroom and got up and I saw myself in the mirror and I didn’t know it was me. I couldn’t recognize myself. I saw I had been crying so hard my eyes were red and puffy. There were tears down my cheek. I was in a state of shock. He raped me really violently.”
Mann left the stand to compose herself and, as she walked by Weinstein seated next to his lawyers, pointed at her face and stared him down. When she left, Weinstein’s attorney Arthur Aidala asked the judge for a mistrial, saying that Mann’s testimony had nothing to do with the charges and that it prejudiced the jury. The judge denied the motion.
When she returned to the stand, Mann testified that after the alleged rape Weinstein “basically blessed” her to continue her relationship with her boyfriend. “When I left I was very disoriented and shaken, and I stumbled down the hallway like I was drunk,” she said. She went to a friend’s house and was scared to go to a hospital to get a rape test kit, so she showered “for hours.”
“I was scared what would happen if I said his name,” she said. “The next day, I was very suicidal. I went for a really long walk because I felt so fucked up.” Mann said that she wanted to move on with her life and career, so she didn’t acknowledge the alleged rape. Over the following few years, Weinstein would email her and ask to meet, but Mann kept the communication professional and refused his requests.
On her first day of testimony on Monday, Mann said she and a friend traveled to New York in March 2013, where they had plans to meet Weinstein for breakfast. According to Mann, he arrived early and booked a room at her hotel, despite her objections. Mann said she went upstairs with Weinstein to avoid a public confrontation, telling him, “I don’t want to do this.” However, she said he shut the door as she attempted to leave, demanded that she undress, and grabbed her by the arms. At that point, she “just gave up,” Mann told the courtroom. She alleged that Weinstein then performed unwanted penetrative sex on her, adding that she later discovered what appeared to be an injection of an erection-promoting drug in the bathroom trash.
Weinstein is charged with one count of third-degree rape in connection with the March 2013 incident involving Mann. He also faces two counts of committing a “criminal sexual act” in the first degree, based on accusations from former Polish model Kaja Sokola and former TV production assistant Miriam Haley.
