New York — Jessica Mann once had reason to believe that she had been publicly questioned Harvey Weinstein.
She had He spent three daysHe says The jury found that the former movie mogul raped her, explaining why she continued her relationship with him after that and discussing other deeply personal aspects of her life, crying so hard that at one point she was in tears. Court ended early. Weinstein was then convicted in a case Ruling 2020 It is seen as a victory for the #MeToo campaign against sexual misconduct.
However, six years later, Mann once again walked to the witness stand, passed Weinstein in court on Monday, and began — for the third time — to give the jury her account of what happened between them.
Mann testified that she met Weinstein at an acquaintance’s engagement party in early 2013. She said he was wearing a tuxedo and “seemed very jovial, so I went up and introduced myself to him.”
She said Mann was living in Los Angeles and trying to break into acting. She said she met Weinstein again later that evening. She testified that he bragged about his filmmaking prowess and his ability to spot talent.
“He said I was really beautiful, more beautiful than Natalie Portman,” Mann testified, echoing her previous testimony. She added that she eventually gave Weinstein her phone number, thinking they would make a professional — not romantic — connection.
“He was interested in my appearance. I thought I had just been discovered,” she said.
Weinstein He denies sexual assault anyone. He watched from his wheelchair at the defense table as Mann testified, occasionally leaning in to talk to his attorney. Mann only looked at Weinstein when asked to point him out in the courtroom.
Mann’s allegation of a 2013 rape in a Manhattan hotel is once again up for consideration due to a series of legal reversals. First, the 2020 conviction of Weinstein It was overturned For reasons unrelated to her testimony. Then the jury Failed to make a decision Her part of a retrial that included multiple defendants and allegations last year left only the rape charge To be tried again.
“I am ready, willing and able to take this many times over to achieve justice and accountability,” Mann said in a statement at the time.
This design now needs to be tested.
Mann could face days of questioning by prosecutors and Weinstein New lawyers. Like their predecessors, they portray Mann as a savvy, sophisticated man who became involved with a Hollywood star, had fully consensual sex with him, enjoyed his liaisons and dalliances, and then turned on him. News reports About other women’s allegations about Weinstein. The 2017 reports catalyzed the #MeToo movement.
Mann, 40, grew up in a small town in Washington state and trained as a hairdresser, but longed to pursue acting and moved to Los Angeles in her 20s. She was sometimes so broke that she lived in her car, but she did some business and film work before she met Weinstein.
Thrilled that the Oscar-winning producer had expressed interest in her career, Mann accepted invitations to get together, starting with a shopping trip for books about cinema. Within a few months, Weinstein began making sexual advances that she did not invite but accepted, she said.
She said that, with mixed feelings, she embarked on a relationship with the then-married business mogul. Sometimes she appreciated his encouragement, other times she resented his sexual demands, and was always aware of his ability to make a career of his own.
In March 2013, Mann and a friend traveled to New York and arranged to meet Weinstein for breakfast with friends. She testified in previous trials that he kept her alone in a hotel room, locked the door when she tried to leave and eventually raped her, even though she told him “I don’t want to do this” and “no.”
After that, Mann continued to have what she said were largely consensual sexual encounters with Weinstein. At times over the next four years or so, I emailed him saying “I miss you,” “There’s no one else I’d have the pleasure of catching up with who understands me as much as you do,” and “I love you, I always do. But I hate feeling like a booty call.”
Weinstein’s lawyers say the letters show there was only a patronizing relationship. Mann said she was trying to manage a complicated dynamic with a volatile man.
The Associated Press does not identify people who say they have been sexually assaulted unless they agree to reveal their names, as Mann did.